The dramatic Korean Grand Prix (Part 3)
The teams formed the grid as it had been more than half an hour after the red flags were waved on the track to stop the race due to the unfortunate conditions. The race was delayed after just 2 laps by the stewards until further notice.
A team of marshals were taking the opportunity to sweep away any excess of mud and dirt from the edges of the circuit. Adrian Sutil was standing on the grid and shared some jokes with his mechanics as he munched on an energy bar. Tonio Liuzzi was advised
on the Force India team radio that lighting would become unacceptable after 2 hours. But as mentioned earlier, natural light started to fade sometime before.
The leader had completed two laps so in case the race gets cancelled, half points could theoretically be awarded according to the grid order of the race. A more likely scenario was a restart after the track dries a little with the race shortened due to fading
light.
Sebastian Vettel was standing on the grid with a team jacket on as he talked to his team engineers. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso discussed the situation on the grid as the rain continued to fall lightly on the track. The duo were no joined by the safety
car driver Bernd Maylander to discuss the conditions as Red Bull team boss Christian Horner also decided to join the group.
Webber was expressing his concerns about the lack of visibility on the track and the possibility of a large pile-up if someone spins in the opening corners. Jaime Alguersuari was wearing a Toro Rosso fleece as he walked down the pitlane with his race engineer.
Finally, after waiting for almost 40 minutes, the stewards announced that the race would resume after 10 minutes. The teams were told that the cars must remain on full wet tyres for multiple laps behind the safety car. Race control hoped that the lapping
cars would begin to clear the water from the track surface in order to continue the race in a normal way.
Meanwhile, the three road sweeping trucks came out on track and were now attempting to remove some of the standing water and the excess of dirt. The drivers walked back to their cars 5 minute before the race was expected to resume. The FIA medical car took
a round of the circuit to check the latest track conditions.
The safety car stayed in position at the front of the field ready to lead the race after it resumes. Alan van der Merwe was at the controls of the medical car and he pushed as hard as he could to get a good grip level so that he can relay that information
to the safety car driver Bernd Maylander.
The drivers were now back in their cars as light rain continued to fall over in Yeongam. Once again, the hooters sound signalled the teams that there were just three minutes remaining to the restart. Hamilton was focused in his McLaren and it seemed that
he was concerned whether the conditions would work out well for him or not.
The cars were expected to complete their third lap after they cross the start finish line to restart the race and begin the fourth lap of the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. With all the 24 cars settled in their respective grid positions, the safety car was
in place and the race was expected to restart within a few seconds as the conditions were now getting better. However, the race was going to resume behind the safety car so no action was expected for at least the next couple of laps.
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