The Asian Season is well underway. After Seb's monstrous victory and that dramatic climax in Singapore, the action continues with another recent addition to the calendar - Korea. The Yeongam International Circuit has now played host to three Grands Prix and this year will be the fourth.
Last Year's race was one of little action. Personally, I remember it most for Lewis Hamilton's unfortunate predicament of having a piece of Astroturf entangled around one of his sidepods. I'm sure the Korean race organisers don't want their legacy to be some artificial grass on a McLaren but really apart from 2010's rain soaked race, I can't think of a particularly interesting event. Anyway, in 2012 Vettel won and the race was forgotten about.
First practice was very sunny, which makes a nice change compared to the soggy weekends we've become accustomed to in the Republic. The track is very rarely used throughout the year meaning it's 'green', as in there is very little rubber laid down from past events. This makes the tarmac quite slippery relative to circuits used more often, and it came as no surprise when several drivers slid off the track in Friday Morning's first practice. Most surprising of these offs was Kimi Raikkonen who buried his Lotus into the wall after the last corner, putting too much power down on the kerb. Rodolfo Gonzalez borrowed Jules Bianchi's Marussia car but smashed the nose off that, apologising on the radio. Jimmy Calado filled in for Paul di Resta in P1 as well, but the Brit had no such trouble with keeping his vehicle on track.
Hamilton was fastest in the first two sessions, but on Saturday morning it was the Red Bulls who had the edge over the Silver Arrows, and Vettel and Webber overshadowed Lewis Hamilton.
QUALIFYING REPORT
This was not an incredibly exciting session. In fact, it was one of the most predictable qualifying sessions I've seen all season.
The fall guys did their bit to maintain the status quo - Two Marussias, two Caterhams, two Williams. Bianchi and Chilton will actually start the opposite way round, Max 21st and Jules at the back, as Bianchi had his third reprimand of the season for speeding in the pit lane.
Car eliminated after Q1
17) Bottas
18) Maldonado
19) van der Garde
20) Pic
21) Bianchi
22) Chilton
Session two also included three teams being completely eliminated. However, it would appear that Toro Rosso have swapped places with Sauber, as the Italian outfit fell in Q2, while Monisha Kaltenborn's youngsters progressed to the shootout.
Cars eliminated after Q2
11) Button
12) Perez
13) Ricciardo
14) Sutil
15) di Resta
16) Vergne
Esteban Gutierrez was the only real surprising name in Q3, and as has recently been the case Kimi Raikkonen had a below par qualifying while his team mate flourished, ending up fourth. The harmonious Noah's Ark line up (Two by two, hurrah, hurrah...sorry) was broken up though, By Mark Webber's ten-place grid drop for his unorthadox taxi ride back to the pits at the end of the race in Singapore.
The Final Top Ten
1) Vettel
2) Hamilton
3) Webber (starts 13th)
Everyone from here to Perez will start a place above listed:
4) Grosjean
5) Rosberg
6) Alonso
7) Massa
8) Hulkenberg
9) Gutierrez
10) Raikkonen
RACE DAY
Sunday afternoon was an overcast but dry day. As Vettel brought the Formation lap to a close those behind opted to wait as long as possible to join the grid slots, to try and make Vettel wait as long as possible. It was to no avail though, as the German surged from the line at the start. Turn one saw very little change in positions, apart from an opportunistic move from Esteban Gutierrez which saw the Mexican pip down the inside of one of the Ferraris and move up to 6th.
On the way up to turn three along F1's second-longest straight there was much dicing; Grosjean barged his way through the pack and squeezed Hamilton for all he was worth, beating the Brit down in to third. That was not the only action at Turn 3 though; slow-starting Felipe Massa locked everything up to avoid contact and came incredibly close to contact with his team mate Alonso. This sparked desperate avoiding action from those behind and many lost front wing endplates. One such unfortunate man was Jenson Button, an ailment that would catch up with him later in the race.
Webber's penalty had left him with a point to prove; he showed Perez how it was done on lap 3 by simply driving around at the outside of the turn 4 hairpin. While one Australian gained, another fell backwards, as Raikkonen outstripped Ricciardo. Meanwhile, Jenson Button's damaged front wing had become too much of a hindrance, and he pitted at the end of the lap for a fresh one.
Webber and Raikkonen were once again on the move - on Lap 7 the Aussie displaced Pastor Maldonado who took advantage of the first lap chaos and was temporarily in 8th place. Kimi's victim was his future team mate, whom he passed with ease at the turn 3 hairpin on Lap 9.
After their sparring on the first lap, Hamilton and Grosjean were not done with one another. Lap 11 saw Grosjean exit the pits, and locked horns with the Mercedes driver once more - Romain had the edge however. Vettel pitted on that lap to confirm that the German was two-stopping, as was the majority of the field. So large was Sebastian's interval that he didn't lose it when pitting, a feat we have become rather accustomed to recently.
One thing we haven't seen very much of this season is Sauber running strongly. The car relative to last year's 4x podium sensation has been a massive step backwards, but Nico Hulkenberg found himself in the powerful scenario of being ahead of not one, not two, but three previous Championship leaders. World Champions Raikkonen and Alonso and Multiple race winner Mark Webber found themselves well and truly stuck behind Nico with no response for pretty much the entire middle part of the race. The Sauber appeared to have superior traction and straight line speed to the Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull cars where it mattered, making a very frustrated afternoon for those behind.
Another driver running strongly was Daniel Ricciardo who found himself in fourth place just ahead of Nico Rosberg, but a pit stop on Lap 19 saw an end to that. It also saw the end of a Pigeon which had unluckily flown into his sidepod and collided with the radiator.
The first major incident of the race occurred on Lap 27, when Paul di Resta corrected a slide in the second sector. He caught the slide too well, and went straight into the barriers, bringing out the Yellow Flags. His car was easily recovered but this was not the end of the drama. Barely a lap later Nico Rosberg looked to pass his struggling team mate Lewis Hamilton for third place. He moved into the DRS zone and as he lined him up for the pass along the 1.1 Kilometer straight, he suffered a monumental front wing failure.
Rather than a hanger failure causing the main plane of the wing to dangle off, the entire nose section detached from the chassis itself and made the W04 look like some sort of vacuum cleaner. Hamilton was still unable to maintain pace with Nico despite the adverse aerodynamic tweaks. Lewis had been complaining about his tyres going off the pace and was losing a solid 2 seconds per lap on his rivals before the incident, but he had to complete another lap in this state due to Rosberg's car troubles.
"When are you gonna call me in guys, these tyres are f****d!" - Lewis's annoyance at having to wait for the team to repair Nico's car.
The action refused to die down there either. Another three laps later Sergio Perez suffered his third tyre failure of the season. The Mexican was a double-victim of delamination in Silverstone, and was left with three wheels on his wagon once again in Yeongam. This failure, though, was caused by an enormous lock-up into turn 1. The mistake let Raikkonen past, and when the tyre let go, it was flung into the path of Webber and Hamilton behind. Webber, who had exited the pits seconds earlier, was forced to go through the pits again, as the debris from Sergio's car caused a puncture. The McLaren was wounded, but not mortally, and after a a front wing change and fresh set of boots, he was back in the field, albeit in 15th place.
After the four-lap clean up operation, the Safety Car came back in. At the restart, Nico Hulkenberg pipped Lewis Hamilton at turn 3, but at the same time a fellow German did not have such a good time. Adrian Sutil locked everything up and slid helplessly into the side of Mark Webber crushing the Aussie's sidepods and igniting the Red Bull in flames as the exhaust system ate through the bodywork. There were no Fire Marshalls nearby and literally millions-worth of damage was done. It's going to be tricky for the team to get the chassis rebuilt in time for the Japanese weekend, just a few days later.
The Lotus team were urging Romain Grosjean on in this race to try and get him ahead of his team mate Raikkonen. It was likely a ploy to make the Frenchman seem suitable as a team leader next year when Kimi leaves, but Romain was unable to curtail the current Lotus leader, and when he moved to the inside of Turn 1, there was nearly a collision, save for Kimi's lightning reactions; he moved up to 2nd place.
The most bizarre thing happened after that, as the Course Car ended up being deployed before the Safety Car, and for the first time ever, a Jeep was leading a Grand Prix.
You really have to wonder how on earth the bad luck always seems to happen to Mark Webber, but whatever the case, his chances of finishing second to Vettel in the Championship look pretty slim now. Webber's assailant Sutil suffered enough damage to force him out of the race as well.
Following the second and final Safety Car period there were two excellent battles going on. The first was the fight for 4th place. Nico Hulkenberg was still maintaining his excellent sub-podium position against the formidable pressure of Lewis Hamilton. For eleven laps the Brit relentlessly harried Hulkenberg but simply could not find a way past.
"Does anyone have any ideas how to get past him? How the hell has he got so much traction?" - Lewis Hamilton
He was joined by former team mate Fernando Alonso in the battle, but young(ish) Nico was able to soak up all their pressure til the very end of the race and put himself firmly in the shop window for all the big teams at the very height of silly season.
The second battle I mentioned was the desperate scrap for the final point in 10th place, which was being apprehended by five drivers. F1's four South Americans and Valtteri Bottas seemed to trip over one another in pursuit of 10th place. Meandering through the tricky middle sector Gutierrez made an over-ambitious move on then-10th placed Maldonado, but the Venezuelan had to go off track to avoid Esteban. Both drivers lost momentum, Massa pounced on everyone to take the point, and Maldonado dropped to 14th.
As the race concluded Nico Rosberg managed to move up the order to 7th at Jenson Button's expense, but both drivers would inherit another place at the expense of Daniel RIcciardo, who retire with suspected brake failure. Vettel was dominant again, and the two Lotus boys ensured that we got the same all-Renault podium as in Bahrain and Germany this year as well. I for one will not be forgetting this race for a very long time
Lap Leaders
S Vettel 1-55
Finishing Positions
1. S Vettel, Red Bull Racing
2. K Raikkonen, Lotus
3. R Grosjean, Lotus
4. N Hulkenberg, Sauber
5. L Hamilton, Mercedes AMG
6. F Alonso, Ferrari
7. N Rosberg, Mercedes AMG
8. J Button, McLaren
9. F Massa, Ferrari
10. S Perez, McLaren
11. E Gutierrez, Sauber
12. V Bottas, Williams
13. P Maldonado, Williams
14. C Pic, Caterham
15. G van der Garde, Caterham
16. J Bianchi, Marussia
17. M Chilton, Marussia
Out/Unclassified
JE Vergne, Toro Rosso (Brakes)
D Ricciardo, Toro Rosso (Brakes, Pigeonstrike)
A Sutil, Force India (Brakes)
M Webber, Red Bull (Collision Damage, Fire)
P di Resta, Force India (Spun off)
PENULTIMATE PONDERING
Driver of the day: Without a doubt, Nico Hulkenberg. I've admired him since his race-leading antics in Brazil last year and I strongly feel that he should be rewarded with a more consistent drive for 2014. He is left with the conundrum, though, of not know where to turn. Does he stick it out with Sauber another year to show a team he can stay for longer than a year? Would a move back to Force India be suitable? Or will Lotus provide superior equipment?
The regulation changes for 2014 means that literally no one, not even industry experts like David Tremayne, Olav Mol or Gary Anderson could possibly speculate who will be competitive.
THANKS
Thank you very much for checking out my blog. If you want to get updates from me whenever I post (I aim to post once a week if I have the time) then please subscribe to me! I'm at University studying journalism, and I LOVE doing this blog for practice. If you care much for my material and want to aid a teenager in his meteoric rise to a job at the BBC then feel free to share with your friends! Speaking of the BBC:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the images on this Blog. They are screenshots from the BBC iPlayer, but this Blog is not for profit and I do not intend to make it so, so go easy on me, copywriters!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @EpsilonEustice as well for live updates during races and silliness and cameraderie during the week.
Hamilton was fastest in the first two sessions, but on Saturday morning it was the Red Bulls who had the edge over the Silver Arrows, and Vettel and Webber overshadowed Lewis Hamilton.
QUALIFYING REPORT
This was not an incredibly exciting session. In fact, it was one of the most predictable qualifying sessions I've seen all season.
The fall guys did their bit to maintain the status quo - Two Marussias, two Caterhams, two Williams. Bianchi and Chilton will actually start the opposite way round, Max 21st and Jules at the back, as Bianchi had his third reprimand of the season for speeding in the pit lane.
Car eliminated after Q1
17) Bottas
18) Maldonado
19) van der Garde
20) Pic
21) Bianchi
22) Chilton
Session two also included three teams being completely eliminated. However, it would appear that Toro Rosso have swapped places with Sauber, as the Italian outfit fell in Q2, while Monisha Kaltenborn's youngsters progressed to the shootout.
Cars eliminated after Q2
11) Button
12) Perez
13) Ricciardo
14) Sutil
15) di Resta
16) Vergne
Esteban Gutierrez was the only real surprising name in Q3, and as has recently been the case Kimi Raikkonen had a below par qualifying while his team mate flourished, ending up fourth. The harmonious Noah's Ark line up (Two by two, hurrah, hurrah...sorry) was broken up though, By Mark Webber's ten-place grid drop for his unorthadox taxi ride back to the pits at the end of the race in Singapore.
The Final Top Ten
1) Vettel
2) Hamilton
3) Webber (starts 13th)
Everyone from here to Perez will start a place above listed:
4) Grosjean
5) Rosberg
6) Alonso
7) Massa
8) Hulkenberg
9) Gutierrez
10) Raikkonen
RACE DAY
Sunday afternoon was an overcast but dry day. As Vettel brought the Formation lap to a close those behind opted to wait as long as possible to join the grid slots, to try and make Vettel wait as long as possible. It was to no avail though, as the German surged from the line at the start. Turn one saw very little change in positions, apart from an opportunistic move from Esteban Gutierrez which saw the Mexican pip down the inside of one of the Ferraris and move up to 6th.
On the way up to turn three along F1's second-longest straight there was much dicing; Grosjean barged his way through the pack and squeezed Hamilton for all he was worth, beating the Brit down in to third. That was not the only action at Turn 3 though; slow-starting Felipe Massa locked everything up to avoid contact and came incredibly close to contact with his team mate Alonso. This sparked desperate avoiding action from those behind and many lost front wing endplates. One such unfortunate man was Jenson Button, an ailment that would catch up with him later in the race.
Webber's penalty had left him with a point to prove; he showed Perez how it was done on lap 3 by simply driving around at the outside of the turn 4 hairpin. While one Australian gained, another fell backwards, as Raikkonen outstripped Ricciardo. Meanwhile, Jenson Button's damaged front wing had become too much of a hindrance, and he pitted at the end of the lap for a fresh one.
Webber and Raikkonen were once again on the move - on Lap 7 the Aussie displaced Pastor Maldonado who took advantage of the first lap chaos and was temporarily in 8th place. Kimi's victim was his future team mate, whom he passed with ease at the turn 3 hairpin on Lap 9.
After their sparring on the first lap, Hamilton and Grosjean were not done with one another. Lap 11 saw Grosjean exit the pits, and locked horns with the Mercedes driver once more - Romain had the edge however. Vettel pitted on that lap to confirm that the German was two-stopping, as was the majority of the field. So large was Sebastian's interval that he didn't lose it when pitting, a feat we have become rather accustomed to recently.
One thing we haven't seen very much of this season is Sauber running strongly. The car relative to last year's 4x podium sensation has been a massive step backwards, but Nico Hulkenberg found himself in the powerful scenario of being ahead of not one, not two, but three previous Championship leaders. World Champions Raikkonen and Alonso and Multiple race winner Mark Webber found themselves well and truly stuck behind Nico with no response for pretty much the entire middle part of the race. The Sauber appeared to have superior traction and straight line speed to the Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull cars where it mattered, making a very frustrated afternoon for those behind.
 |
| Cool as an Ice-berg - Nico wasn't even slightly phased by those behind. |
Another driver running strongly was Daniel Ricciardo who found himself in fourth place just ahead of Nico Rosberg, but a pit stop on Lap 19 saw an end to that. It also saw the end of a Pigeon which had unluckily flown into his sidepod and collided with the radiator.
 |
| Prospects sliding away: Paul's fourth retirement in a row does not bode well for the future. |
The first major incident of the race occurred on Lap 27, when Paul di Resta corrected a slide in the second sector. He caught the slide too well, and went straight into the barriers, bringing out the Yellow Flags. His car was easily recovered but this was not the end of the drama. Barely a lap later Nico Rosberg looked to pass his struggling team mate Lewis Hamilton for third place. He moved into the DRS zone and as he lined him up for the pass along the 1.1 Kilometer straight, he suffered a monumental front wing failure.
 |
| Inter-team squabbles can cause metaphorical sparks to fly, but in this case, literally. |
Rather than a hanger failure causing the main plane of the wing to dangle off, the entire nose section detached from the chassis itself and made the W04 look like some sort of vacuum cleaner. Hamilton was still unable to maintain pace with Nico despite the adverse aerodynamic tweaks. Lewis had been complaining about his tyres going off the pace and was losing a solid 2 seconds per lap on his rivals before the incident, but he had to complete another lap in this state due to Rosberg's car troubles.
"When are you gonna call me in guys, these tyres are f****d!" - Lewis's annoyance at having to wait for the team to repair Nico's car.
The action refused to die down there either. Another three laps later Sergio Perez suffered his third tyre failure of the season. The Mexican was a double-victim of delamination in Silverstone, and was left with three wheels on his wagon once again in Yeongam. This failure, though, was caused by an enormous lock-up into turn 1. The mistake let Raikkonen past, and when the tyre let go, it was flung into the path of Webber and Hamilton behind. Webber, who had exited the pits seconds earlier, was forced to go through the pits again, as the debris from Sergio's car caused a puncture. The McLaren was wounded, but not mortally, and after a a front wing change and fresh set of boots, he was back in the field, albeit in 15th place.
 |
| He was once called 'Checo the tyre whisperer by former boss Peter Sauber... Checo the tyre BLISTERER I feel is now more apt. |
After the four-lap clean up operation, the Safety Car came back in. At the restart, Nico Hulkenberg pipped Lewis Hamilton at turn 3, but at the same time a fellow German did not have such a good time. Adrian Sutil locked everything up and slid helplessly into the side of Mark Webber crushing the Aussie's sidepods and igniting the Red Bull in flames as the exhaust system ate through the bodywork. There were no Fire Marshalls nearby and literally millions-worth of damage was done. It's going to be tricky for the team to get the chassis rebuilt in time for the Japanese weekend, just a few days later.
 |
| Over-ambitious Adrian whacks Webber |
The Lotus team were urging Romain Grosjean on in this race to try and get him ahead of his team mate Raikkonen. It was likely a ploy to make the Frenchman seem suitable as a team leader next year when Kimi leaves, but Romain was unable to curtail the current Lotus leader, and when he moved to the inside of Turn 1, there was nearly a collision, save for Kimi's lightning reactions; he moved up to 2nd place.
 |
| Romain narrowly avoided his team mate in this scuffle. |
The most bizarre thing happened after that, as the Course Car ended up being deployed before the Safety Car, and for the first time ever, a Jeep was leading a Grand Prix.
 |
| Jeep Motorsport's F1 team has really come along this year. |
Following the second and final Safety Car period there were two excellent battles going on. The first was the fight for 4th place. Nico Hulkenberg was still maintaining his excellent sub-podium position against the formidable pressure of Lewis Hamilton. For eleven laps the Brit relentlessly harried Hulkenberg but simply could not find a way past.
"Does anyone have any ideas how to get past him? How the hell has he got so much traction?" - Lewis Hamilton
He was joined by former team mate Fernando Alonso in the battle, but young(ish) Nico was able to soak up all their pressure til the very end of the race and put himself firmly in the shop window for all the big teams at the very height of silly season.
The second battle I mentioned was the desperate scrap for the final point in 10th place, which was being apprehended by five drivers. F1's four South Americans and Valtteri Bottas seemed to trip over one another in pursuit of 10th place. Meandering through the tricky middle sector Gutierrez made an over-ambitious move on then-10th placed Maldonado, but the Venezuelan had to go off track to avoid Esteban. Both drivers lost momentum, Massa pounced on everyone to take the point, and Maldonado dropped to 14th.
As the race concluded Nico Rosberg managed to move up the order to 7th at Jenson Button's expense, but both drivers would inherit another place at the expense of Daniel RIcciardo, who retire with suspected brake failure. Vettel was dominant again, and the two Lotus boys ensured that we got the same all-Renault podium as in Bahrain and Germany this year as well. I for one will not be forgetting this race for a very long time
Lap Leaders
S Vettel 1-55
Finishing Positions
1. S Vettel, Red Bull Racing
2. K Raikkonen, Lotus
3. R Grosjean, Lotus
4. N Hulkenberg, Sauber
5. L Hamilton, Mercedes AMG
6. F Alonso, Ferrari
7. N Rosberg, Mercedes AMG
8. J Button, McLaren
9. F Massa, Ferrari
10. S Perez, McLaren
11. E Gutierrez, Sauber
12. V Bottas, Williams
13. P Maldonado, Williams
14. C Pic, Caterham
15. G van der Garde, Caterham
16. J Bianchi, Marussia
17. M Chilton, Marussia
Out/Unclassified
JE Vergne, Toro Rosso (Brakes)
D Ricciardo, Toro Rosso (Brakes, Pigeonstrike)
A Sutil, Force India (Brakes)
M Webber, Red Bull (Collision Damage, Fire)
P di Resta, Force India (Spun off)
PENULTIMATE PONDERING
Driver of the day: Without a doubt, Nico Hulkenberg. I've admired him since his race-leading antics in Brazil last year and I strongly feel that he should be rewarded with a more consistent drive for 2014. He is left with the conundrum, though, of not know where to turn. Does he stick it out with Sauber another year to show a team he can stay for longer than a year? Would a move back to Force India be suitable? Or will Lotus provide superior equipment?
The regulation changes for 2014 means that literally no one, not even industry experts like David Tremayne, Olav Mol or Gary Anderson could possibly speculate who will be competitive.
THANKS
Thank you very much for checking out my blog. If you want to get updates from me whenever I post (I aim to post once a week if I have the time) then please subscribe to me! I'm at University studying journalism, and I LOVE doing this blog for practice. If you care much for my material and want to aid a teenager in his meteoric rise to a job at the BBC then feel free to share with your friends! Speaking of the BBC:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the images on this Blog. They are screenshots from the BBC iPlayer, but this Blog is not for profit and I do not intend to make it so, so go easy on me, copywriters!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @EpsilonEustice as well for live updates during races and silliness and cameraderie during the week.
