Grand Prix 2013 Korean Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Mokpo's love motels welcome you to the Korean Grand Prix, situated on bleak wasteland miles away from anywhere else. Envisioned as a 'motor city', with tall buildings surrounding the circuit, it is likely that the race will drop of the calendar in the next couple of years, showing the success of the Korean venture into Formula 1. It's not a brilliant circuit to be honest, and some of the races there were rather tedious. It is, therefore, seen as one of the less memorable grands prix of the season.

In terms of the championship, Vettel's won it. Only Alonso (60 points behind with 150 left to play for) has a realistically small chance of overcoming the young German.

The only really memorable race here was the inaugural one in 2010, held in wet conditions, and finishing in the dark after an unnecessarily long red flag & safety car period. When we eventually got racing on the construction site that was the Yeongam circuit, Webber span out, Vettel's engine expired, Alonso won, the midfielders forgot how to drive and Jonathan Legard got all confused between Hamilton & Button.

To be honest, it would be easier to skip these final races and fast forward to 2014. Ah well.

Ready, Steady, Discuss!!!

 

[gethinceri]

Do you have a source for that info Blog Zbod?

 

[RasputinLives]

I'd heard it was the local Korean fire marshall who made the call. Not FIA or Charlie Whiting.

 

[Mephistopheles]

That's right it was a local fire marshal that ordered the Jeep onto the track and it cut across the nose of an on coming car, it was not authorised to be there.

And I would like to nominate Titch for a drive in F1 she's only little, which seems to be the only requirement these days...

 

[snowy]

Alonso criticised Pirelli's tyres; Hembery's reaction:
Burn!

I am so fed up of all this. The races are rubbish if the tyres are durable!

2010 was an outstanding season, the best in decades apart from that one race in Bahrain. They had got rid of refuelling, had durable tyres and no DRS. You don't need lousy tyres and DRS to make good F1 racing, just like refuelling they are disincentives to imaginative and bold overtaking.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Tyre limited racing is shit along with DRS, if this season hasn't proved that then I ****ing give up, just bring on the Bernie short cuts and random sprinkler system and have ****ing done with it and why not hang bunting from the rear wing so that the uneducated viewers can see the affect of aerodynamics while your at it....

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I quite miss refuelling, but it wasn't any less artificial than tyres, DRS etc. It just threw a bit of randomness into the mix.

 

[Blog Zbod]

Compilation of directives from Paul "B.B." Hembery:
1. Run tyre pressures where we tell you, not where they perform best. If your car handles like shit as a result, sucks to be you.
2. Ditto with camber and toe-in
3. Do not run over kerbs
4. Do not flat-spot your tyres
5. Keep back a minimum of 100 meters from any car not in compliance with #s 3 or 4
6. Do not under any circumstances attempt to drive your car to its limits, or yours. Ever.
7. Listen to the sound of my voice. Believe what you are hearing, not what you are seeing.
8. Drivers who ignore any of the above and are killed as a result are subject to having their invitation to the company Christmas party withdrawn, as well as being stricken from the complimentary Pirelli calendar mailing list

I'd heard it was the local Korean fire marshall who made the call. Not FIA or Charlie Whiting.

FIA admits they requested fire truck

 

[Speshal]

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

I'm still laughing a that. I'm just thinking 'wow big fire for Webber and why's he standing so close to the car - I think I'd step away a bit'. Cut to queue of cars and suddenly WTF IS THAT???!!! It was a bit like the protester at Silverstone years ago but much funnier. It's just funny how my brain processed something completely unexpected and for maybe a fraction of a second I just accepted it was completely normal that there was a stonking great Jeep on the track.

 

[LifeW12]

Are we forgetting? Kimi had a blowout in the Nurburgring 2005 caused by a flat spot. They were the Michelins back then. Why criticize Pirelli, it happened with a different manufacturer years ago.

 

[gethinceri]

I agree LifeW12, Perez' fault.

 

[Hamberg]

Isn't everything even when it's not? Speaking of which he had two post race investigations. Any news?

 

[Greenlantern101]

 

[sushifiesta]

LifeW12 That incident was suspension failure caused by vibrations from the flat spot, the tyre itself didn't fail. I'm not saying Michelin never had problems with their tyres though...

The problem is there have been a number of Pirelli tyre failures this year that have been completely out of the blue. The Perez incident probably doesn't quite fit in that category, although frankly for the tyre to fail just a few corners after that lock up is pretty disappointing to say the least. A lot of the drivers, and fans, also find it incredibly frustrating that everyone has to drive within themselves to be competitive and get the tyres to last.

 

[LifeW12]

Regardless of the cause of Raikkonens crash it does demonstrate that flatspots cause a lot of trouble.

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

It was pretty idiotic not to pit with the tyre like that. Made for good viewing though!

 

[LifeW12]

The points loss wasn't worth it according to the team. He would have finished 3rd had he pitted though.

 

[Titch]

And I would like to nominate Titch for a drive in F1 she's only little, which seems to be the only requirement these days...

Would my feet reach the pedals though? Mind I'd give it a go, what's the worst that could happen

 

[KekeTheKing]

I usually defend Tilke because his hands are often tied with a multitude of FIA safety requirements and what-not, but Korea is an absolute shit circuit. After Turn 4 there isn't a single place where wheel to wheel racing is even possible. It's follow the leader for 2 sectors and then 2 long straights. How you could be given a clean plot of Earth and come up with that nonsense is beyond me.

 

[Fenderman]

Not sure I agree entirely KekeTheKing but I just love your style . I didn't like that track at first but have had second thoughts about it. It occurs to me that the problem there is the same as any other circuit on the calendar. Once the marbles have contaminated the parts of the track that are off the racing line then wheel to wheel and creative overtakes are out.

The tyre compounds need to be soft enough for grip and to "rubber in" the track but they really must do something about the "marbles". It's surely not a bad thing to challenge the chemists to work on that one is it?

The other issue they could tackle is the depth and inherent strength of usable tread. It's one thing to demand tyres that only last some of a race but quite another to have tyres that disintegrate over the proverbial cliff. Someone asked in another thread "is flat-spotting tyres is a new thing." I don't believe it is. What is more recent is the fact that once a tyre is flat-spotted it's had it completely. Schumacher used to murder his tyres pumping in his hottest times on his in laps to the pits. When was the last time an in lap was the fastest lap of the race?

It seems to me that if 2013 has taught us anything it is that the tyres still dominate all else and even the DRS has not compensated for that problem. Reverting to 2012 spec' rubber has resolved the rear tyre explosive delamination issues but brought us back to the dirty track syndrome. That should have had some attention as well.