It will be a close race in Korea – Karun Chandhok
HRT driver Karun Chandhok predicts an exciting race at this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix but believes that the brand new layout of the track will most likely suite the Red Bull cars. It was quite an absurd comment by the Indian driver as most of the professionals
believe that the Korean International Circuit would suite the McLaren cars rather than the championship leaders since the track contains the longest straight in the 2010 Formula 1 calendar. Since McLaren has the best available package of the F-duct, Lewis
Hamilton and Jenson Button will have a better chance of winning rather than the Red Bulls or even the Ferraris.
Chandhok is the only F1 driver to drive on the new circuit after demonstrating a Red Bull RB6 car there earlier this year. Since then, the top of the surface has been laid again and there are some concerns that without the necessary time to cure this problem,
oils from the tarmac will come to the surface and reduce the grip levels vitally. Karun Chandhok believes that it will be a crucial problem for the drivers during this weekend’s Korean Grand Prix.
“The grip levels will be lower perhaps than they might be in six weeks as it takes time for the oil to come to the surface. When they resurfaced Donington in 2004 everyone went three seconds slower than they did later in the year after it had bedded in.
But I don't think it will be dangerous,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
Karun Chandhok expects that the track layout will play a huge role to the strengths of the Red Bulls, however he realized that it would be an interesting start as the McLarens and Ferraris have better straight-line speed in the first sector flat out as compared
to the Red Bulls.
“The Red Bull is quick everywhere. But I think here, specifically though the first sector of the lap with the three long straights, they may not be as quick as some of the others. Ferrari and McLaren will be strong,” he told
Reuters in a separate interview.
He believes that even if the Red Bulls qualify one-two, it will be an interesting race to watch because the McLarens and Ferraris will have the ability to overtake on the long straight.
He believes that the gap between the top three will be closer as compared to the past couple of races.
The HRT driver further added that he was quite surprised that the F1 paddock did not contact him to get a firsthand account of the new circuit before the practice sessions that are set to begin this Friday.
It was quite immature of Karun Chandhok as he stated that if he was the team boss of any team, he would literally beg any driver who has tested at the Korean track even if the driver starts from the back of the grid in order to get as much information as
he can about the circuit.
“To be fair, a lot of people have very good simulators and they have a lot of faith in their simulators and simulation software. I think a lot of them tend to believe that more than anything else. Obviously he was very curious to see what I thought about
the place and what the circuit was like,” said Chandhok.
Karun Chandhok claims that the championship leader Mark Webber and the reigning world champion Jenson Button contacted him to find out about the track as much as they can. Yeah right Karun, We’ll find out how true that is in a couple of days time.
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