Formula One: Highlights of the Korean Grand Prix – Part 3
It was utter chaos as the race merely saw its first 20 laps. Vitaly Petrov entered the pits from 15th place and opted to replace the wet tyres with the intermediates. With the race still being carried out at safety car pace, there was a more than
likely chance of a shortened race. In such an event, all the drivers were to be awarded half points – Something that Mark Webber was hoping for as it still enabled him to hang on to the championship lead.
As Webber’s Red Bull and Rosberg’s Mercedes was finally craned off the track, the race got back to full pace. Vettel was safely through with Alonso, Hamilton, Massa and Button on his heels. However, on the next lap, the only remaining Red Bull was finally
able to open up some breathing space – he had a 2.1 second lead over Alonso.
The gap at the front was increasing by the lap. Vetel increased his gap to 2.5 seconds from the Ferrari while Hamilton was a further 2.8 seconds behind.
Further down the grid, Kobayashi provided some entertainment as he battled Yamamoto and Buemi. Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher got past Jenson Button as the Mercedes and German fans rejoiced. However, there was yet another hiccup; this time, in the form of
Di Grassi making contact with one of the HRTs and lost control of his Virgin – Yellow flags were out.
Vettel’s lead at the front was 3.5 seconds. Jenson Button, racing in 6th, slapped on new intermediate tyres and rejoined the track in 16th in the midst of heavy traffic. Adrian Sutil brought his Force India into the pits as well; he
was 10th on track before the stop and go.
Fernando Alonso responded as he set the fastest lap with a time of 1 minute 53.480 seconds – A tenth quicker than Vettel. Both Trulli and Sutil had a brief moment but to the relief of both pit garages, were able to stay in control. The Force India had dropped
down to 18th.
While Sutil’s stint on track wasn’t as smooth as planned, his team mate, Liuzzi on the other hand was running strongly in 10th. The Italian had a disastrous qualifying as he only managed 18th quickest. Hulkenberg pitted from 8th
and swapped to the intermediate Bridgestones. It was therefore, generally believed that the track would only get drier with the passage of time – Dry enough for switching into the full dry tyres, though?
Yellow flags were out yet again on track. This time it was to signal the on track collision between Buemi and the Virgin of Timo Glock. The incident involving the Toro Rosso triggered the safety car. All the drivers rushed in the pits barring the top 2 cars
in the form of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso – Interesting, very interesting… How was this going to play out?
The front running Red Bull dived into the pits, the following lap. The Ferrari followed suit as Alonso brought his car to a stand still for a new set of tyres. Vettek rejoined in the lead, importantly. The Scarlet car on the other hand, was classified 3rd,
behind Hamilton. Replays confirmed Alonso having a slow pit stop.
The safety car was signaled in after the end of the 34th lap as the marshals cleared the debris from Buemi abd Glock’s car. Vitaly Petrov jumped to 7th place and was evidently the ‘big’ beneficiary of the safety car period.
The race resumed. Hamilton ran wide within the set of the first corners that allowed Alonso through. Hamilton’s McLaren wasn’t the only one struggling with grip, Button, who was struggling down in 12th place behind Liuzzi also went off track while
battling with slower cars.
Would the utter confusion end? After seeing most of the race behind the safety car, were we finally going to get an uninterrupted race at full throttle? Would Vettel be able to salvage some pride for Red Bull?
Stay tuned…
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