A second safety car deployment caused by the collision of Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg on lap nineteen closed up the field but Vettel retained the lead.

The victory was Alonso's fifth of the season; the result elevated him to the lead of the Drivers' Championship, eleven points ahead of Webber, who had dropped to second after failing to finish the race.

The 2010 Korean Grand Prix was the seventeenth of the nineteen rounds in the 2010 Formula One World Championship and was held at the 5.615 km (3.489 mi) anti-clockwise Korea International Circuit on 24 October 2010.

The teams (also known as constructors) were Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari, Renault, Williams, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania and Virgin.

[15] Following increased hostilities between North Korea and South Korea in the wake of the sinking of the South Korean corvette Cheonan in March 2010, Formula One Group chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said the race would be in jeopardy if political tensions continued to escalate, and it would be abandoned if the North Korean army crossed the border.

[19] The top layer of the track was completed ten days before the race; there was not enough time for the elements to remove the oils and bitumen chemicals in the tarmac.

[21] Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher said the asphalt improved during the Friday free practice sessions and that the track was "very demanding and tricky which provides a challenge that I like a lot".

[25] The team also brought a new rear wing and tested a new revision of their F-duct system that débuted at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.

Hispania driver Bruno Senna spun at turn nine after his left rear suspension failed and stopped on the track without hitting a barrier.

[29] After discussions with Whiting during a Friday night drivers' briefing, the height of an apex at turn sixteen was increased and the wall in the area was moved back.

[35] Hamilton set the first session's fastest time of 1:37.113; he almost did not challenge for the pole position because he avoided making contact with the wall at the pit lane entry.

Button complained about the lack of grip and that he could not get his tyres to the optimum temperature; he managed seventh position but was happy to start on the clean side of the grid.

[39] He said eleventh place was a "good position to start from" despite losing the rear of his car in turn twelve, which caused him to abort one of his quick laps.

[34] Hülkenberg was followed in the times by the BMW Sauber drivers Kobayashi in twelfth and Heidfeld in thirteenth, followed by Sutil in the quickest of the two Force India cars.

Petrov, who qualified in fifteenth,[39] was penalised five positions on the grid because he had caused an avoidable accident with Hülkenberg at the start of the previous race at Suzuka.

[33] While on their reconnaissance laps, Massa, Senna and Glock left the circuit but avoided damage to their cars[42] as drivers tested wet tyre compounds.

[43] Light rain prevented the resumption of the Grand Prix for over forty-five minutes until the marshals and road sweeping trucks removed some of the excess water and dirt on the track.

[45] At the end of the first racing lap, Vettel led by 2.8 seconds from Webber,[33] who was followed by Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton, Massa, Button, Schumacher, Kubica, Hülkenberg, Sutil, Barrichello, Kobaysahi, Heidfeld, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Buemi, Glock, Petrov, Kovalainen, Yamamoto, Trulli, Senna and di Grassi.

[42] Webber lost grip on the next lap after running across the outside kerbing and spinning across the track onto the wall between turns twelve and thirteen; he slid back onto the circuit and collected Rosberg, forcing both drivers to retire.

[43] Di Grassi lost control of his car at turn fourteen after trying to pass Yamamoto on lap twenty-seven; he made light contact with the wall which caused him to retire.

On lap twenty-eight, Trulli drove back to his garage to retire with a hydraulics failure that was caused by his power steering becoming heavy during the safety car period.

Button, who was under pressure from Hülkenberg and Kubica, made a pit stop at the end of lap twenty-eight for intermediate tyres and rejoined in fifteenth place.

[33] As Vettel maintained his lead, the stewards informed the Lotus team that Kovalainen had been caught speeding in the pit lane, for which he was served with a ten-second stop-and-go penalty that was taken on lap thirty-nine.

Vettel was leading Alonso, who was followed by Hamilton, Massa, Schumacher, Barrichello, Petrov, Hülkenberg, Kubica, Liuzzi, Kobayashi, Heidfeld, Alguersari, Sutil, Button, Senna, Kovalainen and Yamamoto.

[46] A dry line began to emerge on lap forty-one as Petrov lost control of the rear-end of his car between turns seventeen and eighteen; he slid sideways into the tyre barrier at the pit lane entry.

[8][47] He was followed by Kubica in fifth, Liuzzi in sixth, Barrichello in seventh, Kobayashi eighth, Heidfeld ninth and Hülkenberg passed Alguersuari on the final lap to round out the points-scoring positions in tenth.

I witnessed both Red Bull problems from very close up: in these situations you try and stay super-concentrated, because you are coming from a high speed corner and there is no time to think.

[48] Barrichello, placed fifth before he ran wide on lap fifty-two and was passed by Kubica and Liuzzi, said, "I was lucky with the timing of the safety car and we were running in a good position right up until the closing stages.

"[48] Webber said he was at fault for causing the accident between himself and Rosberg on lap nineteen; "I thought I'd managed to catch it but I lost the car and made contact with the wall.

[48] BBC commentator and former driver Martin Brundle said he felt the race should have started earlier,[44] while Button said he thought it should have been stopped before visibility deteriorated.