The dramatic Korean Grand Prix (Part 6)
With Mark Webber out of the race, the 4 championship contenders were now even more keen for the racing to begin once again, as the safety car was deployed because of the debris left on the track by Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg’s cars.
Vettel led the pack behind the safety car once again ahead of Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and 3rd places. The three drivers seemed more determined than ever as this was a vital opportunity for them in order to gain a healthy advantage
in the drivers’ standings.
Felipe Massa was in fourth place ahead of Button, Schumacher and Kubica in 5th, 6th and 7th places respectively. Schumacher gained a couple of places after Webber and Rosberg retired. The cars slowly followed Sebastian Vettel
as they took their time to pick up with him behind the safety.
With 34 laps remaining in the race, Vitaly Petrov pitted in order to get a tyre change and it seemed that the Intermediate tyres were the best option according to the conditions at that moment. Webber had to walk back to the pits knowing that his championship
lead will soon be wiped off.
The cars were still intact in the same snake like formation behind the safety car while Kobayashi decided to get a pair of intermediates from the pits. However, Kamui suffered vitally as he was struggling with the grip level of the track now. Jarno Trulli
decided to pit from 18th place but lost a couple of places in the classification.
The leading cars were still on full wet tyres though and it seemed that they would not pit any time soon. Kubica was in 7th place and led the pack of the Force India and Williams drivers behind him.
Mark Webber watched his wrecked and muddy Red Bull as it was being craned away by the marshals on the track. As soon as his car was removed from the track, the stewards announced that the safety car would return to the pits by the end of the 23rd
lap and Button was told that the team expected the rain to continue lightly once again.
As the 24th lap began, it was go time once again as racing continued from where it was left. Vettel was able to maintain his lead down through Turn 3 and it seemed that the Red Bull driver had great pace in the wet and slippery conditions. After
just a single lap, Vettel took a 2.1 second lead over Alonso.
Jarno Trulli and Bruno Senna collided during their fight for the 21st place and Jarno lost his front wing as a result. Due to this collision, race control had to warn the teams about the debris on the circuit near Turn 6 where the cars collided.
Jenson Button was falling way behind and was in the most uncomfortable position amongst the contenders as he was having a hard time trying to find a way past Felipe Massa. Trulli went into the pits and parked his car straight into the garage. Lotus worked
to repair the car after turning off the engine. This probably meant that Trulli was out of the race.
Hamilton drifted back from Sebastian and Fernando due to a lack of pace and was finding it very difficult to challenge them for the positions. Vettel gained a 2.5 second lead over Alonso and Alonso had a similar margin over Lewis Hamilton in 3rd
place.
Trulli was surprisingly back on the circuit while Kobayashi tried to make a move on Sakon Yamamoto but slid wide and lost several positions. Jenson Button was unable to make a single challenge on Felipe and it seemed that he was struggling vitally due to
a lot of pressure from Schumacher’s Mercedes.
Jenson Button needed to perform outstandingly aggressive in this race but it seemed that he just did not have it in him to race independently under wet conditions. With action almost all around the track, the race was taking a vital turn after reaching its
half way mark.
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