Vettel in the box seats
This weekend sees Formula 1 teams contest the Korea Grand Prix, the first race of the opening set of three double-header races which take 19-leg world championship through to the end of the season via Japan, India/Abu Dhabi and Texas/Brazil.
Ferrari’s former double world champion Fernando Alonso. Picture AFP.
Separated by just two flying hours and a week on the F1 calendar, Korea and Japan could not be more different.
Teams hate Korea which this year is scheduled ahead of Suzuka’s round. This enables teams to get it behind them and look forward to one of the season’s better venues.
The tragedy is that the anti-clockwise 18-turn (11L/7R) 5.6-kilometre Korea International Circuit ranks amongst the top five in terms of challenge, with its layout and facilities being well up to standard. It is just a pity they are already crumbling and see no cleaning between Grands Prix.
That said, Korea has delivered some fine races in its short three-year history despite these invariably being dominated by Red Bull’s triple reigning champion Sebastian Vettel. The German led the inaugural event until his engine blew, then made up for his disappointment by winning the last two editions.
The layout consists of three sectors, all completely different in terms of character, with the first consisting primarily of long straights where sheer grunt is paramount. Sector two is a flowing high-speed bonanza that demands optimum car balance, with the final sector being street circuit-like.
This is no surprise given it was planned as part of a stillborn coastal resort, and consists mainly of 90 degree bends with little run-off area. Twelve of the circuit’s corners are taken at under 200 km/h (six below 100 km/h), with cars reaching 300 km/h four times per lap to deliver an average lap in qualifying of 210 km/h. Around 62 percent of each lap is taken at full throttle with drivers changing gear 51 times per lap, and there are 11 braking events with drivers spending 13 percent of each lap on the left pedal.
Sole tyre supplier Pirelli has specified its supersoft and medium compounds for this race – an indication of how gentle the circuit is on rubber although tyres are subjected to searing forces as cars slow from 320 km/h to 100 km/h in just 100 metres for turn one.
The final sector, too, takes it’s toll and the high kerbs punish sidewalls. The flowing turns five to nine sector places heavy stresses on construction.
The surface is probably the least aggressive of all, leading to low tyre degradation. This is further helped by the unusually low surface temperatures aided by cooling sea breezes.
At least this year’s promises to be warmer (and drier) than its predecessors. The mercury is forecast to hit 23 to 25 degrees during and no rain is predicted.
With two-thirds of the season gone the final six races will decide the eventual destination of both this year’s championships. Red Bull Racing and Vettel are superbly placed.
Going into this race the German holds a 60-point advantage over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso with 150 points still to play for. Sunday’s 55-lap race starts at 3pm local time (9am SAST) with Saturday qualifying an hour earlier.
