Korean Grand Prix 2010

Today, Formula One almost suffered the ultimate irony. After weeks of speculation as to whether the inaugural Korean Grand Prix would actually go ahead, torrential conditions aggravated by the slippiness of the newly-laid tarmac seemed at one point to have put paid to all the organisers' hard work. However, after an initial three incredibly tentative laps under the safety car, a red flag and nearly an hour of delays, the race got underway in earnest, albeit once more with the safety car leading the way.

Behind Bernd Maylander's modified silver Mercedes SLS was the Red Bull pair who had annexed the front row the previous day in a dry qualifying session, Sebastian Vettel heading his championship-leading teammate Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso for Ferrari was next, from Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and the second Ferrari of Felipe Massa, with Jenson Button in the sister McLaren languishing in 7^th position. That was the order as the safety car peeled into the pit lane on lap 18 of 55, signifying the real start of the race.

One team revelling in the adverse conditions was Mercedes. No sooner than the green flag was shown had celebrated weltmeister Michael Schumacher placed himself alongside the Renault of Robert Kubica on the approach to turn 1 before easing past the Pole into 8^th position. Almost simultaneously, Rosberg in the other Mercedes was harrying Hamilton for 4^th position, and two corners later he too made a position in a well-timed move up the inside of turn 3.

Meanwhile, as Vettel pressed home his advantage at the head of the field, the tiniest mistake by his Aussie teammate would have a profound effect on the course of the championship. On lap 19, Webber ran out onto the kerbs at the exit of turn 12, and applied just enough throttle to send his Red Bull RB6 pirouetting helplessly into the retaining wall. The momentum then carried the stricken car back across the track, where Rosberg was incredibly unfortunate to be collected and have his promising race ruined. The copious amount of debris gave the Safety Car yet another appearance, but only for 5 laps this time whilst the marshals rushed to clear the wrecked cars.

The order was thus Vettel from Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Button and Schumacher whose assured driving made up for Rosberg's premature exit somewhat. He proceeded to enthral his team further though when three laps after the restart he found his way past Button at turn 3 to steal 5^th place. Button was struggling for grip profusely at this stage, feeling the need to switch to the intermediate tyre two laps after his demotion to 6^th by Schumacher. Unfortunately for the Brit, the stop was poorly timed as he rejoined down in 16^th behind a long train of new-team cars and those who opted to pit for inters under the safety car. That train was shortened somewhat by a collision between Sebastien Buemi and Timo Glock, caused by the former launching an overly ambitious assault on 11^th place up the inside of turn 3. This was particularly painful for the Virgin team who lost the chance to overhaul rivals Lotus in the constructors championship and therefore to secure precious prize money.

Both were out on the spot, and more debris was spewed across the track, necessitating a further appearance from the Safety Car, delaying proceedings for another 4 laps. This was the point at which the leading quartet of Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton and Massa all decided to make the switch for intermediate tyres too. They would've rejoined in that order also if it weren't for a slightly fumbled pitstop by Ferrari that saw their man fall behind Hamilton into 3^rd. As the race began once more however, Lewis squandered that position gained in the pits by running wide at the first corner, allowing Alonso to scoot back into 2^nd. Further back and several laps later, Petrov became the next casualty by ending his hitherto impressive race in the barriers at the final corner, although thankfully the safety car was not required on this occasion.

Just as it seemed the race couldn't get any more dramatic, there was another sting in the tail for the Red Bull team yet after Webber's earlier disaster. As Vettel crossed the line to begin Lap 46, his speed appeared to falter, allowing Alonso to snatch the lead unchallenged. Hamilton soon followed suit, and it became clear that the Red Bull's Renault powerplant had simply had enough and dramatically expired in a huge cloud of smoke, sprinkling shards of destroyed engine all the way down the 1.2km straight between turns 2 and 3.

That left Alonso to claim a relatively easy victory, as Hamilton was unable to close the gap that had emerged since his earlier off. The Spaniard took with the winner's trophy the lead of the championship, having achieved four wins and six podiums in the last seven races. Hamilton however still had reason to be happy after finishing in 2^nd, made all the better by his teammate Button's continued struggle for grip and subsequent non-score in a lowly 12th. Massa drove quietly home to claim 3^rd, his fifth podium of the season. Schumacher was next to take the chequered after arguably his best drive of the season – keeping his head when many around him lost theirs. Kubica took advantage of some late misfortune for both of the Williams drivers to take a solid 5^th place, as did Tonio Liuzzi who produced a measured drive to 6^th after his teammate Adrian Sutil proved fast but erratic, ending his race after some contact with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi in the closing stages of the race. The Japanese driver did survive the scare to finish in 8^th, behind Barrichello but ahead fellow Sauber pilot Nick Heidfeld. Hulkenberg rounded out the top 10 after a late puncture that cost him several positions.

So, after what nearly wasn't the Korean Grand Prix, the weather gave us another thrilling race that changed the face of the championship radically. Alonso now has the momentum firmly behind him and with the Ferrari operation focussed exclusively upon him, Red Bull and McLaren surely now will have to make the decision to back one of their two drivers to be able to challenge the Scuderia. Whilst the choice is a no-brainer for McLaren after Button's non-score leaving 42 points adrift of Alonso, Red Bull's is slightly trickier. After all, today's race served to remind us how quickly the balance of power can shift in Formula One.