F1 Korean Grand Prix: Everything you need to know

The F1 bandwagon heads to South Korea this weekend, at the Korean International Circuit in Yeongam for the sixteenth race on the 2011 calendar. With the F1 World Championship wrapped up, Sebastien Vettel will be aiming to secure the constructor’s title for his Red Bull team. The German’s third place finish at Suzuka meant that he sealed the championship with 4 races still to go. McLaren’s Jenson Button took the chequered flag after a sensational drive but his victory was completely overshadowed by Vettel’s phenomenal achievement.

Vettel wrapped up the drivers' championship in Japan

What’s at stake?

Red Bull lead the constructors’ tally by 130 points and with four races to go, a maximum of 172 points are up for grabs. It looks highly unlikely that McLaren are going to catch up with the Red Bulls, who have set the standard all season with an exceptionally fast, durable and stable car driven by two extremely talented drivers. The battle for second position in the drivers’ standings is very much on with as many as five drivers in contention. For all the other teams, it will be a matter of personal rivalries, testing their car and developing it for the next season, racing for pure pride and some extra bucks!

2010 Korean GP

The 2010 Korean GP was a rainy affair with the race starting behind the safety car. A whopping 48% of the laps were completed under the safety car but the race was not short of excitement, thrill and some wheel-to-wheel racing. The race unfolded into one of the most spectacular events of the season as three of the five title contenders failed to finish within the points. Starting on pole, Vettel had to retire due to an engine failure while Mark Webber unceremoniously crashed out. Fernando Alonso took his Ferrari home in first position while Hamilton and Massa rounded off the podium places. The race had a huge bearing on the title and the track was given some encouraging thumbs-up by the drivers.

Last year's podium finishers

Circuit

The Korean International Circuit is located in the South Jeolla region, in the southwestern part of the Korean peninsula, approximately 370 kms from the capital city of Seoul. The track, which has been designed by the famous German architect Hermann Tilke, hosted South Korea’s first F1 event last year in October after months of speculation over the preparedness of the circuit. The circuit has been built right next to a picturesque harbour just like Monaco, Montreal and Abu Dhabi. It is one of the few anti-clockwise circuits and features the longest straight out of all the Asian circuits. It possesses two completely different sections, one a conventional race track and the other a street section similar to a street circuit with narrow roads and walls on either side.

The surface offers low grip for cars which means that the engineers will need to set the car up for sufficiently high downforce levels. The cars will lay rubber on the track as the weekend progresses so grip levels are expected to reach optimum levels by the time the race gets underway. Pirelli are providing their P Zero Yellow soft and the P Zero Red Supersoft tyres for the weekend, something they’ve been doing all year for all the street circuits. The super-softs will provide added efficiency and performance which may eventually result in some interesting race strategies by various teams.

Circuit Diagram

The track boasts of three consecutive high speed stretches where drivers clock incredibly high speeds. Turns 1 and 3 provide the best opportunities for overtaking as the cars slow down from 300 to 80 kph and it is under braking that drivers can look to make a pass. Section 2 of the track features a combination of some sweeping high speed and medium-slow corners and twists, the trickiest and most challenging section of the circuit. The last section is the street section which resembles the look of a street circuit with tall buildings lining the track and impact walls on either sides.

Technical details

Lap length 5.621km (3.493 miles)Race laps 55Race distance 309.155km (192.1 miles)Turns 18Direction Counter-clockwiseMaximum speed 310 kph (192.625 mph)Average Speed 209 kphLap Record 1:50.257 – Fernando Alonso (2010)

Predictions

The weathermen have forecast another wet weekend at the Korean GP and all teams will be making backup plans in case the rain gods decide to show up. The Red Bulls are expected to continue their stellar run while Ferrari and McLaren will be going all out for a good finish. Vettel is not going to be deterred by his title victory and is a major contender for this race too. Fernando Alonso has been putting in some consistent displays while a resurgent Button has stood on the podium in the last 5 races. Hamilton will be itching to get back on the podium after a series of poor results while Mark Webber, who has been living under the shadow of his partner, will look to secure his team’s position in the teams’ standings.

Race Weekend: October 14-16