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The Korean Grand Prix 2013 was the 14th round of the 2013 F1 season, and took place at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam County, Korea, on October 6th.

Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Kimi Räikkönen, and Romain Grosjean completing the podium.

Final results

1
-
VET
Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull
1:43:13.701
Finished
2
7
RAI
Kimi Räikkönen
Lotus F1
+4.224
Finished
3
-
GRO
Romain Grosjean
Lotus F1
+4.927
Finished
4
3
HUL
Nico Hülkenberg
Sauber
+24.114
Finished
5
3
HAM
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
+25.255
Finished
6
1
ALO
Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
+26.189
Finished
7
3
ROS
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
+26.698
Finished
8
3
BUT
Jenson Button
McLaren
+32.262
Finished
9
3
MAS
Felipe Massa
Ferrari
+34.390
Finished
10
-
PER
Sergio Pérez
McLaren
+35.155
Finished
11
3
GUT
Esteban Gutiérrez
Sauber
+35.990
Finished
12
5
BOT
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
+47.049
Finished
13
5
MAL
Pastor Maldonado
Williams
+50.013
Finished
14
5
PIC
Charles Pic
Caterham
+1:03.578
Finished
15
5
VDG
Giedo van der Garde
Caterham
+1:04.501
Finished
16
6
BIA
Jules Bianchi
Marussia
+1:07.970
Finished
17
4
CHI
Max Chilton
Marussia
+1:12.898
Finished
18
2
VER
Jean-Éric Vergne
Toro Rosso
+2 Laps
19
7
RIC
Daniel Ricciardo
Toro Rosso
+3 Laps
20
6
SUT
Adrian Sutil
Force India
Collision
21
8
WEB
Mark Webber
Red Bull
Collision
22
7
DIR
Paul di Resta
Force India
Spun off
Show all

Race evolution

Pit Stops

0
1
2
3
SUT
4
BUT
5
6
MAS
7
MAL
DIR
GUT
8
BOT
9
HAM
ALO
PIC
10
GRO
ROS
HUL
PER
VDG
BIA
11
VET
RAI
VDG
12
WEB
VER
CHI
13
14
15
16
17
18
RIC
19
20
21
22
BUT
23
MAL
DIR
24
VER
25
RAI
26
HUL
27
28
ROS
ALO
SUT
BOT
29
HAM
MAS
30
WEB
PIC
BIA
CHI
VDG
31
VET
GRO
RIC
WEB
GUT
PER
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
VER
SUT
39
40
41
SUT
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55

There were a total of 49 pit stops during the race.

The most popular pit stop windows were:

  • Laps 6-12: 20 stops
  • Laps 22-26: 6 stops
  • Laps 28-31: 17 stops

The fastest pit stop was Giedo van der Garde's, stopping the clock at 17.513 seconds during his pit stop on lap 10, while the slowest one was was Adrian Sutil's, who stopped the clock at 1 minutes, 11.445 seconds, 53.932 seconds slower than van der Garde, during his pit stop on lap 38.

These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.

Strategy

We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 2 stops. Only 3 drivers tried a 3 stops, and 1 driver tried a 4 stops.

The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 2 stops strategy.

2 stops

  • 3
    Jenson Button
  • 3
    Felipe Massa
  • 5
    Pastor Maldonado
  • 7
    Paul di Resta
  • 3
    Esteban Gutiérrez
  • 5
    Valtteri Bottas
  • 3
    Lewis Hamilton
  • 1
    Fernando Alonso
  • 5
    Charles Pic
  • -
    Romain Grosjean
  • 3
    Nico Rosberg
  • 3
    Nico Hülkenberg
  • -
    Sergio Pérez
  • 6
    Jules Bianchi
  • -
    Sebastian Vettel
  • 7
    Kimi Räikkönen
  • 4
    Max Chilton
  • 7
    Daniel Ricciardo

3 stops

  • 5
    Giedo van der Garde
  • 8
    Mark Webber
  • 2
    Jean-Éric Vergne

4 stops

  • 6
    Adrian Sutil

Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 1.06 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 1.5 positions on average.

Despite of the average possitons gained or lost, and considering a deeper analysis of the performance of each strategy, we consider the 2 stops strategy as the optimal for this race.

It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Korean International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.

Incidents

There race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 3 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.

These included, Adrian Sutil, and Mark Webber, both retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars, and Paul di Resta, who lost control and spun off the track on lap 24.

Collision

  • Adrian Sutil
    Lap 50
  • Mark Webber
    Lap 36

Spun off

  • Paul di Resta
    Lap 24

Qualifying

#1
VET
#2
HAM
#3
WEB
#4
GRO
#5
ROS
#6
ALO
#7
MAS
#8
HUL
#9
GUT
#10
RAI
#11
PER
#12
BUT
#13
RIC
#14
SUT
#15
DIR
#16
VER
#17
BOT
#18
MAL
#19
PIC
#20
VDG
#21
BIA
#22
CHI

Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.218 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:37.202. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.

Q1

  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:38.341
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:38.418
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.427
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.520
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:38.525
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:38.574
  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:38.683
  • Esteban Gutiérrez
    1:38.725
  • Jenson Button
    1:38.882
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.884
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:38.988
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:39.049
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:39.065
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:39.075
  • Mark Webber
    1:39.138
  • Paul di Resta
    1:39.185
  • Valtteri Bottas
    1:39.470
  • Pastor Maldonado
    1:39.987
  • Charles Pic
    1:40.864
  • Giedo van der Garde
    1:40.871
  • Jules Bianchi
    1:41.169
  • Max Chilton
    1:41.322

Q2

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:37.569
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:37.824
  • Mark Webber
    1:37.840
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:37.913
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:37.978
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:38.031
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:38.076
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:38.181
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.295
  • Esteban Gutiérrez
    1:38.327
  • Sergio Pérez
    1:38.362
  • Jenson Button
    1:38.365
  • Daniel Ricciardo
    1:38.417
  • Adrian Sutil
    1:38.431
  • Paul di Resta
    1:38.718
  • Jean-Éric Vergne
    1:38.781

Q3

  • Sebastian Vettel
    1:37.202
  • Lewis Hamilton
    1:37.420
  • Mark Webber
    1:37.464
  • Romain Grosjean
    1:37.531
  • Nico Rosberg
    1:37.679
  • Fernando Alonso
    1:38.038
  • Felipe Massa
    1:38.223
  • Nico Hülkenberg
    1:38.237
  • Esteban Gutiérrez
    1:38.405
  • Kimi Räikkönen
    1:38.822

Track evolution

Q1
-0.586
seconds faster
Q2
-0.101
seconds faster
Q3

As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.

The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 6 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.