Vettel draws level with Hakkinen

Sebastian Vettel's Korean Grand Prix victory was the 20th of his Formula 1 World Championship career, and drew him level with another double champion; Mika Hakkinen, on the sport's all-time winners list in 12th place.

As has been so often the case in 2011 though, it is a long way from being the only significant statistic achieved by the German at Yeongam.

The Vettel steamroller continues

• Vettel's front-row start in Korea was his 15th of the year, leaving him just one shy of the outright record, jointly held by Ayrton Senna (1989), Alain Prost ('93) and Damon Hill ('96).

• The German's 10th victory of 2011 makes him only the second driver in history to reach double figures in a single season. The other, unsurprisingly, is his compatriot Michael Schumacher, who won 13 times in 2004 and on 11 occasions in '02.

• It was also the Red Bull driver's 15th podium finish of the season, equalling Michael Schumacher's 2004 tally and Fernando Alonso's '05 score. Schumacher holds the absolute record with 17 from '02.

• Vettel has now led 69 per cent of the total distance covered so far this year, closing him in on Jim Clark's record of 72 per cent form 1963. Vettel has also led 15 races this year, a figure bettered only by Schumacher, who was at the front in 16 grands prix in '04.

• Vettel's 18th consecutive points finish draws him level with Alonso's strike rate from 2005 and '06 and puts him joint second on F1's all-time list. Michael Schumacher heads the standings, with 24 on the bounce, achieved between the '01 Hungarian and '03 Malaysian Grands Prix.

Race notes

• Surprisingly, given Vettel's dominance in 2011, he recorded only his second fastest lap of the season in Korea. It was also the eighth of his career.

• It was all change in the McLaren camp, with Jenson Button failing to finish on the podium for the first time in five races, and Lewis Hamilton making his first visit for five grands prix.

Webber's third spot was a record-breaker © LAT

• While Vettel is setting records for wins, his Red Bull team-mate • Mark Webber has set a new season record for third places, with seven. The previous record of six was set by Gerhard Berger in '95 and Button in '04.

• Alonso recorded his worst finishing position for nine races in Korea, fifth. Curiously, his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa's sixth place is his best result in the same timespan.

• Jaime Alguersuari equalled his best career result, with seventh - the same position he took at Monza in September. For the fourth time this year, both Toro Rossos finished in the points.

• It's been a year since Red Bull suffered a mechanical failure - the last one coming in Korea in 2010 courtesy of Vettel's engine failing while he was leading.

• The race marked a good turnaround in form for Paul di Resta: he scored two points in the first 10 races of the season and has achieved 19 in the past six.

• For the second consecutive race - and the fourth time this year - di Resta's Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil finished just outside the points in 11th.

• By recording his sixth straight finish outside the points, Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi equalled his worst career string, set in the first six races of last season. A year ago both Saubers scored points in Korea, while this time they finished well down the order.

• Vitaly Petrov crashed out of the race for the fourth time this year. His last six retirements have been down to either accidents or spins.

• Felipe Massa celebrated his 150th F1 start and the Brazilian has now gone a full year without a podium finish - his last top-three result (third) coming at Yeongam in 2010.

• Red Bull claimed its second constructors' title. During the past decade the only team not to record back-to-back constructors' championships was Brawn, the team having been sold to Mercedes and rebranded after its initial crown.

Not for the first time in 2011, the Ferraris were together on the grid © sutton-images

Qualifying notes

• Hamilton put an end to the longest pole position drought of his F1 career - 26 races since the 2010 Canadian GP - by securing his 19th pole in Korea. The Briton's qualifying pace has been bettered only by Vettel in the past seven races - he's started from the front row five times. Only at Barcelona and at Suzuka has he failed to start a GP from the front row - his best in Spain and Japan being third on the grid.

• Hamilton brought an end to Red Bull's stranglehold of pole positions, denying the Austrian-owned team the second longest all-time string of starts from the front. Red Bull had taken pole in the previous 16 races, the third longest all-time sequence after the 24 set by Williams (France 1992-Japan '93) and 17 by McLaren (Germany '88-Germany '89).

• Vettel saw his five-race streak of poles come to an end, but did secure his sixth consecutive front-row start.

• Button was third on grid for the third time in four races.

• Massa outqualified Alonso for the fourth time in six races. The Spaniard had previously outqualified the Brazilian in the past 16 races.

• Ferrari occupied the third row of the starting grid, which is its usual place this year. A Ferrari has been there 15 times out of 32 starts so far.

• For the seventh time this year Nico Rosberg started from seventh in the grid, behind the two Red Bulls, two McLarens and the two Ferraris. In fact, in the past four races the top six spots have been filled by the top three teams' cars.

• Schumacher recorded his second Q2 elimination of the year - to add to Silverstone. In Belgium he was last on the grid due to the loss of a wheel during Q1.