Korean GP: Sebastian Vettel says start was crucial to victory

The German Red Bull driver qualified in second position behind team-mate Mark Webber, but a better start than the Australian got him ahead at the first corner.

From then, Vettel controlled the race to perfection to secure his fourth win of the season and move into the championship lead after Fernando Alonso finished third.

A delighted Vettel admitted his only scare of the race came when he locked up his right front tyre near the end, forcing him to take it easy on the final laps.

"Fantastic. I am very, very happy. It was a fantastic race," said Vettel.

"The foundation was to have a good start. I wasn't sure as I was starting on the dirty side, but I had a reasonable start and a good launch. Mark had a bit of slip so I could get side-by-side and had a good exit after the third corner.

"We had two brilliant pitstops. The only mistake was locking up the front right at Turn 3. It was a bit of a mistake on my side, but luckily I had cushion to the pack. At the end I was quite worried about tyres."

Vettel, who has turned a 39-point deficit into a six-point lead in just three races, is hopeful there is still more to come from Red Bull in the final four grands prix of the season.

"I have to thank the boys for these ones," he said. "The boys have been flat out each night, working very hard on the car. We have another step and that is exactly what we need and hopefully we can carry the momentum through to the next races."

He added: "The championship has gone up and down. We have to focus on ourselves, we need to have our best possible results and we go from there.

"At the end of the year if we have enough points there will be lots of people telling us so we don't have to worry about it ourselves."