Korean Grand Prix - Race


Despite warnings of typhoons and got sent disasters, the Korean Grand Prix proved to be one of the most exciting races in the last few that we've seen, for it didn't rain, nor did the so called heavy winds disrupt anything.

Sebastian Vettel got a perfect start off the line and though he couldn't build much of a gap, controlled the race flawlessly from the lead. Just behind him though, the precarious third corner caused a lot of mayhem.  Felipe Massa took a risk and went into the corner too deep, causing himself to spin around and a dash on Jenson's front wing and a near miss for his teammate Alonso, who had the worst start of the season. When there was action going on in the midfield, there was a nail biting fight for 2nd between a charging Grosjean and Hamilton, eventually playing into Grosjean's hands.

Nico Hulkenberg, who qualified pretty well on a Saturday, didn't disappoint on race day. His brilliant start saw him immediately jump to 4th position and stay there until the very end of the race, beautifully defending off the pressure from Lewis in the later stages. Hamilton on the other hand, suffered from bad pit calls fom Mercedes, wrong tire changes and excessive tire wear, which was actually unexpected considering Mercedes solved their tire issues. His teammate, Nico Rosberg had a nose dysfunction after the nose literally hung from the livery, scraping the ground and producing fireworks.

A strong, yet difficult drive by the McLaren drivers saw them finish at  P8 with Jenson Button - who was one of the victims of the first lap incident. And Perez at P10 who suffered a complete front right tire delamination. Even before this incident, Pirelli was under fire by Alonso and Webber, both complaining about the unsafe nature of these compounds particularly in Korea, where the track is highly abrasive on the tires.

While Kimi Raikkonen silently made his way from a low P9 up to P3, the safety car had been deployed twice. Bernd Maylander appeared once when Sergio's tire debris had to be cleared off, which was in fact a helping hand for most drivers as they pitted immediately. And not even a lap hence, after the restart, Adrian Sutil happened to do exactly what Massa did, to eventually and sadly wipe out Mark Webber from the race. Webber, who had started the race on P13, enduring a penalty that he'd carried from Singapore,  had been going very well, until that very stage, when he had a slow puncture and was forced to pit before the 1st safety car period. In fact, he even lead the race from his teammate for a lap. A hit of the Force India's rear onto Webber's oil tank caused a wild fire that charred his RB9, leading to a never seen before- random 4x4 car on the track - calling for a 2nd safety car. Charlie Whiting himself stated after the race about the deployment of the safety car was because of a surprise vehicle on track leading the world champion.

With both Force India's out of the race, along with the two Toro Rossos, the backmarkers - Charles Pic and Giedo Van der Garde finished a string P14 and P15 respectively, coring vital positions for Caterham as a team. They were followed by both the Marussias, Bianchi in P16 once again beating his teammate Max Chilton who finished P17.

A solid race weekend, followed by no booing on podium (hallelujah) saw Sebastian Vettel who drove a pitch perfect race lead the world championship by a staggering 77 points. And behind him, Alonso whose race was below average.

If Vettel wins in Japan, which he's most likely to, and Alonso happens to score nil, Vettel will be crowned this year's world champion.  

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