Vettel and Red Bull march on in Korea

It's all becoming very familiar. After an up-and-down first part of the season, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull have hit their stride when it really matters and head to Korea off the back of three wins.

Unfortunately for the rest, not only does the Red Bull look mighty right now, but Vettel also has a fantastic record in Korea. In the three races so far held there, he has won two and would have triumphed in the inaugural race in 2010 but for a late engine failure that appeared to have sounded the death knell for his title hopes.

Even if Vettel does leave Korea with zero points again, he will - even in a worst-case scenario - still have a 38-point cushion heading into the final five races. Given recent form, it appears to be all over bar the shouting thanks to his mighty 63-point lead. It's now more a question of when he clinches a fourth consecutive title rather than if.

Inevitably, this raises the question of whether Vettel might switch into cruise and collect mode. Nobody would blame him for doing so and easing his way to the crown.

But one of the most remarkable things about the German is his unquenchable thirst for victory. You can guarantee he will be going all out to take yet another win.

While optimism will be high on one side of the Red Bull garage, team-mate Mark Webber is likely to be in a less positive frame of mind.

Webber's ride cost him 10 places on the Korean GP grid © XPB

He has already very candidly admitted he is having to work hard to keep his motivation high (note, this is different to not having the motivation at all) and the determination to bow out of F1 with one more victory will surely drive him on.

But this weekend, he carries a 10-place grid penalty. Presumably, he will still be furious about the imposition of the punishment, which was not given because of his taxi ride but because of going onto the track on the slow-down lap in Singapore without the permission of the marshals.

Under the three strikes and you are out rules, that quite rightly triggered an automatic penalty because his previous two offences were related to on-track conduct, as demanded by the rules.

The Australian was on pole in Korea last year and despite his dislike of modern 'Tilkedromes', he will likely have fancied his chances of getting into the fight for top spot this weekend.

While overtaking is very possible at what is officially called the Korea International Circuit, odds are his mind will more be on Suzuka, a track where he has always gone well, for that swansong triumph.

MERCEDES THE BIG THREAT

Hamilton took Mercedes' last win in Hungary © LAT

The past three races have been a little disappointing for Mercedes, although in Singapore the car did show a good turn of pace.

Given the German squad's form earlier in the year, expectations are that it can pick up the baton as the best-placed to take wins off Red Bull even though its hopes of title glory have faded.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has already spoken of the importance of denying Ferrari second in the constructors' championship.

While that might be a little disappointing for a team that, for a decent proportion of the season, had the fastest car, it is a vast improvement from last year's fifth place.

A win in Korea would mark a return to its pre-August break form, when Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton shared three wins in five races, and ensure that the closing races of the season aren't simply a Red Bull steamroller.

LOTUS AND ITS LONG WHEELBASE

After a brief, and encouraging, appearance in the hands of Kimi Raikkonen during Friday practice for the Italian Grand Prix, the long-wheelbase Lotus is set to return this weekend.

Both Raikkonen, who is not expected to suffer any serious problems with the back issues he endured in Singapore but will assess his fitness during Friday practice, and team-mate Romain Grosjean will run with their cars in long-wheelbase configuration in Korea.

The change, facilitated by angling the front suspension forward and elongating the nose, moving the wheels around 100mm, is expected to set the design trend for next year's car.

While it has been found to offer a small aerodynamic advantage, the driving force behind the switch has been the vehicle dynamics department. The hope is that yet more pace can be extracted from the car in its new configuration.

Alonso has hauled Ferrari to three consecutive runner-up finishes © XPB

ALONSO FIGHTS ON

Fernando Alonso would be in a difficult position in the world championship even if he had the best car. He needs to make up, on average, 10.5 points per race on Vettel in the remaining six races to reel him in.

After second places in the past three races, the question is: can he do it again?

The qualifying pace of the Ferrari continues to be unspectacular.

In Singapore, his own good start, combined with Hamilton's poor one, allowed him to sweep around the outside of several cars at Turn 1 to lay the foundations for a second-place finish. But it's unrealistic to expect him to keep doing so when there are stronger packages around him on the grid.

With Ferrari having devoted 99 per cent of its resources to 2014, according to team principal Stefano Domenicali, expect Alonso to be fighting his usual rearguard action in Korea.

PEREZ UNDER PRESSURE

While McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has insisted that his outfit will probably keep the same driver line-up, there are very clear questions over Sergio Perez.

Perez has not done enough to win total confidence from McLaren © LAT

He has not had a bad season, but he has not shown enough high peaks to gain McLaren's total confidence even once the disappointing form of the MP4-28 is taken into account.

He's far from already out the door, but now is the time for him to step up, and try to deliver more consistent performances, particularly in qualifying.

So far this season, his race pace has, more often than not, compared reasonably well to team-mate Jenson Button's, but he has only beaten him twice in the 10 races in which they have both taken the chequered flag.

It's time for the Mexican to banish the doubts the team is having.

MIDFIELD BATTLES

Force India insists that it is still trying to beat McLaren to fifth in the constructors' championship even though it has lost 29 points to the Woking squad in the past five races.

A combination of the change in Pirelli tyres and the cessation of development on its car has held back the team, meaning Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta are left fighting for scraps.

In Singapore, a well-executed strategy almost gave the Scot a sixth place before he crashed out late on, and it's going to take another tactical masterstroke to repeat that unless the car finds a surprising turn of speed.

As for McLaren, its car now appears to be good value for a place on the fourth or fifth row, which should guarantee it keeps the points scoring ticking along.