F1 cars ready for Fridays Korean debut

By Yoon Chul

The F1 Korean Grand Prix starts its three-day event Friday at Yeongam in South Jeolla Province, with 24 drivers from 12 teams and their machines now gathering, along with hundreds of staffers.

The drivers can practice up to three times from Friday to Saturday noon, ahead of a qualifying session to try and take poll position.

Qualifying will take place over three occasions. In the first 20-minute time race the slowest seven drivers will get grid positions 18 to 24 and the second 15-minute race will decide the next order of the next seven drivers.

The remaining 10 drivers will compete for poll position in the final 10-minute session.

As the Korean Grand Prix is holding its inaugural race the drivers have less information on whether the Korean International Circuit is easy to overtake or not.

For that reason, the drivers are likely to focus on the qualifying sessions as the starting positions could have a huge bearing on the end result.

Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing leads the drivers’ championship with 220 points, Spanish hero Fernando Alonso of Scuderia Ferrari-Marlboro and Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing shared second with 206.

The top 10 finishers are awarded points on a sliding scale, with the winner receiving 25, while 10th place gets a solitary point.

While the drivers could add up to 75 points in the last three events, two Vodafone McLaren-Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button will need to shine to keep alive their slim hopes of winning the championship.

Hamilton is currently fourth with 192 points and defending champion Button is fifth with 189.

Among the drivers only Hamilton, Button, Alonso and returned F1 legend Michael Schumacher have won the title.

Schumacher has struggled to produce the form that took him to greatness and stands ninth with 54 points.

Indian driver Karun Chandhok, the only man to have driven at the Korean International Circuit in a demonstration in September shared his thoughts through The Associated Press.

“I think Korea is another Red Bull circuit,” said Chandhok. “They proved by the end of (the last race in) Japan that they were a good half a second clear of the McLarens and Ferraris, (and) in two weeks, that is impossible to catch up.

“(The Korean circuit) does have three long straights, which will help McLaren, but from turn four, it’s basically just left-handers all the way home and gets a bit more fiddly, which will play more into Red Bull’s hands.”

The track stretches for 5.621 kilometers including a 1.2 kilometer straight — the longest among 19 circuits in the world.

The drivers will make 55 laps of the circuit but the race will be completed in less than two hours.

The season is not only a contest between drivers but also among the constructors.

The constructors championship points scale works the same as for the drivers’ competition, with each team being rewarded if either of their cars finish in the top 10.

So far Red Bull, who have Webber and Vettel, stands atop with 426 and traditional powerhouse McLaren and Ferrari follow with 381 and 334.

F1 teams engage the latest technology with each car costing them more than 10 billion won ($9 million).

Fans heading to Yeongam to see their first Grand Prix are well advised to take earplugs so as not to hurt their eardrums as the racing machines’ roar past.