Formula One: Highlights of the Korean Grand Prix – Part 2
The race restarted, and the safety car continued to lead the way in its 4th lap. Sebastian Vettel was heard complaining over the radio that there was a lot of water on track, though conditions were better than before.
Jenson Button pointed out the same thing to his race engineer. Lucas di Grassi, on the other hand, entered the pits during the next lap.
Despite the pack sticking to the safety car speed limit, Sakon Yamamoto of the HRT had an off-track moment which was evidence of how difficult it was out in the middle. Rubens Barrichello’s race engineer informed him that light
rain was expected to continue for another 25 minutes. Conditions were improving, but the water was not draining off the track quickly enough, according to Vettel. Elsewhere on the track, Lewis Hamilton felt that conditions were good, giving the impression
that he was obviously keen on getting on with the race.
Michael Schumacher ran off the track too as the safety car continued to circle around. It was getting a touch boring out there; it was hard not to feel for the Korean spectators who had bought race tickets to watch the feature
at an ideal 300 km/h. Bearing in mind Hamilton’s intention to race no matter how damp conditions were, Mark Webber was asked over the radio for his take on the matter. The Australian still felt that conditions weren’t safe yet.
News from the Ferrari radio suggested that the rain would last another five minutes – such was the headline at lap 12. The lap after the following cycle saw Di Grassi pitting for a second time. It was plain that the Virgin was
switching on to newer tyres that were warmer since he was dead last and basically had nothing to lose following the strategy in question.
The conditions looked visibly better as the wetness on-track was less than what it was a few laps before. After a couple of twists and turns on the new circuit, Hamilton commented that conditions were almost intermediary – and
it seemed every F1 fan in the world seconded those views. Everyone was ready to start seeing some racing already.
At the start of lap 17, ‘race control’ announced that the safety car would be taken off at the end. It would be interesting to see how Hamilton would react; he seemed to be the only driver actually keen on racing.
And so the Korean Grand Prix finally began! All the drivers seemed to get through the first corner safely. Nico Rosberg got past Hamilton, ironically enough. Button and Felipe Massa went side by side into the hairpin.
The order was Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Rosberg and Hamilton. Both Jarno Trulli and Bruno Senna went off-track, and Adrian Sutil had a similar moment as well. Importantly though, the drivers all recovered safely.
The first casualty of the Korean Grand Prix was easily headline news for the next morning. Mark Webber’s race was over. The Red Bull driver lost control and went straight for the barriers. To add insult to injury, Webber inadvertently
took out the 4th place Mercedes of Nico Rosberg as well, who had little time to take evasive action as Webber’s car rebounded off the barriers.
The excitement as the race resumed at full pace was rather short-lived, as the safety car was summoned back on track. Nick Heidfeld, Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Senna all headed into the pits. The big news was that the
championship was wide open again with Webber’s race over. If the drivers were to finish as they were on lap 20, the Australian was to lose his provisional 1st place and fall to 3rd.
The Korean Grand Prix was shaping up to be a handful at full speed. The bid for the title saw Vettel and Alonso take a step up. Was there more drama in store?
Stay tuned to find out...
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