Formula One: Korean Grand Prix – Practice Sessions (Part 1)
The Japanese Grand Prix was as expected; exciting, action packed, speedy with a tinge of everything we admire about Formula One.
Hello and welcome to round seventeen of the Formula One World Championship. The world of Formula One headed to its third last race of the season and the event being none other than the Korean Grand Prix with the first practice session at Yeongam.
This was the inaugural race of the new circuit. Many believed that Korea might not cut it into the Formula One fixture list this season. However, after an excellent turnaround from the administration complimented by the patience and belief of the FIA, this
event finally made its way on our television screens.
Five drivers remain in contention for the championship although the McLaren duo is now the outside contenders and will need a strong result to take it to the wire. Fernando Alonso has the momentum in his Ferrari. However, the Red Bull team seem to have sorted
their problems among its drivers and look set to provide another quality show.
The first practice session got underway. Kovalainen was the first driver on the track and was later joined by the pack as the cars headed out to conduct their installation laps.
Understandably, the track was rather slippery as it was a rather unused layer of asphalt. It was argued that grip would improve with the passage of the practice session as cars were expected to lay down a layer of rubber on the racing line on their way.
Jerome D’Ambrosio, as expected, was the only change in the driver line up for the 90 minute session. He replaced Lucas di Grassi at Virgin for the first practice period. The youngster has looked promising so far and it might not be long before he gains a
permanent spot for the Formula One team next season. Lucas di Grassi better watch out for his seat.
The lap was still slippery which made handling the Formula One speed monsters a bigger challenge than usual. The drivers looked to tame their already twitching cars; struggling to get a feel of the new circuit. Interestingly, no matter how experienced a
team has been in the past, the Korean circuit was new to everyone. It all built up to an exciting race which was about being spontaneous and relied on the ability of the drivers to put in fast control laps when the situation presented itself. Times were slowly
coming in with the drivers breaking the 2 minute barrier.
More than half the session had gone by. Some of the drivers felt it was best to adopt a conservative strategy and still had not posted a flying lap. With the new track not providing ample grip to the drivers given the layer of asphalt, it would not have
been a shocker if any one of the cars failed to make it out of the practice session in one piece. Were we in store for some drama? The top end teams had one eye on the championships; any mistake would have most certainly spoiled their chances for silverware
this late in the season.
Less than 30 minutes were left on the Practice Session clock. Times continued to improve however. It would be interesting to see how the cars line up come the next practice period which might give a better picture of the potential speed of the track.
The rather lukewarm practice session drew to a close.
Lewis Hamilton was the quickest driver in first practice ahead of Kubica who set his fastest time in the closing stages. Rosberg, Vettel and Button followed the Renault driver. The session indicated that McLaren may have the pace for the weekend with Hamilton
setting his first timed lap with 20 minutes remaining in the session.
It is worth reminding our readers that the Woking-based outfit is also testing a new rear wing for this weekend. Some might call it ‘innovation’ on part of McLaren Mercedes; others might see it as desperation seeing how the British based team literally threw
away its chances in the constructor’s and driver’s standings.
To be continued...
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