Alonso accepts luck has helped steer him into pole position

The seemingly unstoppable Alonso has now won three of the last four races, and four of the last seven, taking 133 points from a possible 175 in the process.

It has been a phenomenal turnaround from the Spaniard, whose two previous championship triumphs in 2005 and 2006 were clinched at Interlagos, and which may yet happen again in 2010.

There can be no doubt, though, fortune was on the Ferrari star's side in Korea as he watched Red Bull suffer their first double Did Not Finish for 51 races.

Mark Webber was the first to suffer, the Australian crashing out on lap 19 in the wet conditions that had resulted in the first 17 laps being run behind the safety car.

Heavy rain led to a delay of 10 minutes before the start, and when the race did get under way, it lasted just three laps before drivers were red flagged due to the dangerous nature of the conditions.

It was another 48 minutes before the race resumed, and a further 35 minutes before the field was allowed to go racing when the safety car finally made way.

With light rain still falling on a sodden track, Webber was the first to succumb, collecting Mercedes's Nico Rosberg in the process at a time when they were running second and third.

Then nine laps from the finish, Alonso inherited the lead just as the Renault engine in Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull began to blow before finally giving way in a plume of smoke seconds later.

When asked to explain the about-turn in results, Alonso initially employed one simple word: "Luck."

Alonso added: "We've been competitive from Silverstone (the British Grand Prix) onwards.

"Of course, the car has improved a lot and the team is doing a fantastic job every race in bringing new parts.

"We struggled to be on the podium for one part of the season, as I said, maybe because of the luck factor.

"But now we are achieving more wins than expected because of the luck factor as well because (yesterday) we were third and one Red Bull crashed, one blew up.

"As we have said many times, at the end of the year luck evens itself out."

It was Alonso's 26th career victory, with just five drivers ahead of him in F1's all-time standings – Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell and Sir Jackie Stewart.

From a 14-point deficit to Webber at the start of the race, Alonso now has an 11-point lead, with Britain's Lewis Hamilton 21 points down after he finished second in his McLaren.

The podium has kept Hamilton in the hunt, but he knows he needs more in the final two races in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"It's a great result, and I'm very happy with it," said Hamilton.

"My tyres were shot right at the end, so it was really just about bringing the car home and trying to score as many points (as possible).

"It is good for the championship and it is good for the team, but I hope in the next two races we can have some better results."

Webber accepted full responsibility for his accident, saying: "Conditions were okay by the time we were racing – okay, but on the edge – but it (the accident) was totally my fault.

"I got on the kerb on the exit of turn 12 and it was a very slow-motion moment off the back of that kerb.

"I thought I'd managed to catch it, but I lost the car and made contact with the wall.

"It was nothing too heavy, but it was enough to bring the car back to the other side of the track and then Nico hit me, which wrecked his race as well.

"It was my mistake and it wasn't my day."

Vettel now finds himself 25 points adrift and in fourth place in the standings, a remarkable reversal as he could have been leading but for his engine failure.

A philosophical Vettel said: "That's life, how it goes sometimes, but we still have everything to play for."

It is now between those four as reigning champion Jenson Button, of Britain, is 42 points down with only 50 to play for after finishing 12th in a race in which nothing went right.

The proverbial fat lady is almost singing for Button as he said: "It's pretty much gone as I'm miles behind, but it's still possible and I'll keep fighting."

As the race unfolded there was no stopping the mayhem as further accidents accounted for Lotus's Jarno Trulli, the Virgin duo of Lucas di Grassi and Timo Glock, Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, Vitaly Petrov for Renault and Force India's Adrian Sutil.

On an exceptional day for Ferrari, Felipe Massa joined Alonso on the podium, with Mercedes's Michael Schumacher equalling the best result of his season with fourth.

Robert Kubica was fifth in his Renault, followed by Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi, Williams's Rubens Barrichello, the Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Nick Heidfeld, and with Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari 10th.