Round 17 - Korean International Circuit
Summary
As one of the closest championship battles of recent times enters the final straight, this weekend will see an extra factor of unpredictability added to proceedings with a race at a brand new venue at Yeongam in South Korea.
The new circuit has been built in the coastal south-west of the country, with Hermann Tilke naturally taking charge of the construction. The layout is one, like Abu Dhabi, of a split character, with a temporary section running along the coast in a (proposed) new marina, while the remainder of the permanent facility forms a conventional modern circuit, on paper at least.
Building work on the $264 million venue is still ongoing, and final FIA approval was only granted 11 days before the first F1 car is intended to turn a wheel in anger. While the circuit and race facilities are up to scratch, concern has been expressed regarding availability of accommodation for the numbers of spectators expected. The track has a theoretical fan capacity of 135,000.
It is fair to say that the Korean peninsula has not seen a lot of international motorsport events over the years. The Portuguese enclave of Macau in neighbouring China has hosted a celebrated end-of-season Formula Three race since 1983, and in 1999 a street race in Changwon, in south-eastern Korea, was instituted to form a double-header with Macau, saving the teams' travel budgets, and so the Korea Super Prix was born. Jenson Button was runner-up in that inaugural event to fellow Brit Darren Manning, while in 2000 the podium was filled by future F1 backmarkers Narain Karthikeyan, Tiago Monteiro and Gianmaria Bruni. The final Super Prix, in 2003, saw Lewis Hamilton on pole position, but the McLaren protege was eliminated in a first-corner collision with Nelsinho Piquet.
It would be remiss not to mention that South Korea's Kumho have been the official tyre suppliers to the Formula 3 Euroseries for a number of years now, while the country's biggest car manufacturer, Hyundai, competed in the World Rally Championship with their Accent model from 2000-2003. Rumours continue to link Hyundai to an F1 project at some indeterminate time in the future, though previously mooted suggestions of a link-up with Prodrive now look distinctly unlikely.
The Yeongam circuit features three lengthy straights ending in big braking zones, and two probable overtaking opportunities at Turns 3 and 4. The remainder of the lap consists of a busy sequence of left and right combination turns, taken at medium-to-high speed, that should play into the hands of cars with high downforce levels. Simulations suggest a lap time of around 1 minute 40 seconds, at an average speed of 120mph, broadly comparable to Montreal or Valencia. Like the last new venue in Abu Dhabi, the lap runs anticlockwise, with the pitlane on the outside of the circuit along the seafront. The track is likely to be hard on brakes, while oil from the freshly-laid tarmac may mean a low-grip surface, particularly if it rains. October is one of the driest months in Korea, however, and average temperatures are mild at 22 Celsius.
There isn't much to go on for those seeking trends to base their predictions on. The podium finishers at the most recent new venue races have been:
Abu Dhabi, 2009: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Mark Webber (Red Bull), 3. Jenson Button (Brawn)
Singapore, 2008: 1. Fernando Alonso (Renault), 2. Nico Rosberg (Williams), 3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
Valencia, 2008: 1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 3. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
Istanbul, 2005: 1. Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren), 2. Fernando Alonso (Renault), 3. Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren)
Shanghai, 2004: 1. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 2. Jenson Button (BAR), 3. Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren)
Bahrain, 2004: 1. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 3. Jenson Button (BAR)
Current Drivers' Records at New Grands Prix
[td]Driver[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]
Chassis Records at New Grands Prix (1993-onwards)
[td]Chassis[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for Red Bull include Stewart and Jaguar
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Force India include Jordan
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at New Grands Prix (1993-onwards)
[td]Engine[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Ferrari include Petronas
Results for Mercedes-Benz include Sauber
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
"New Grands Prix": 1993 EUR, 1994 PAC, 1996 AUS, 1997 AUT, 1999 MAL, 2004 BAH, 2004 PRC, 2005 TUR, 2008 EUR, 2008 SGP, 2009 ABU
Championship Contenders' Records at Anti-Clockwise Circuits
[td]Driver[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td](Felipe Massa included for comparison purposes)
Notes:
- Alonso finished seventeen successive anti-clockwise races in the top 10, from Brazil 2003 to Singapore 2009.
- Button has qualified on the front row for an anti-clockwise race only once in the past four seasons (2nd - Turkey 2009).
- Massa took seven successive pole positions at anti-clockwise courses from 2006-08, winning five and giving up a sixth at Interlagos in 2007.
- Hamilton has failed to finish the last two evening/night races (Brakes in Abu Dhabi 2009; Collision in Singapore 2010).
- Webber has scored the most points at anti-clockwise circuits in 2009 and 2010 to date (56).
- Vettel has started four anti-clockwise GPs on the front row, but only one from pole position (Turkey 2009).
Summary
As one of the closest championship battles of recent times enters the final straight, this weekend will see an extra factor of unpredictability added to proceedings with a race at a brand new venue at Yeongam in South Korea.
The new circuit has been built in the coastal south-west of the country, with Hermann Tilke naturally taking charge of the construction. The layout is one, like Abu Dhabi, of a split character, with a temporary section running along the coast in a (proposed) new marina, while the remainder of the permanent facility forms a conventional modern circuit, on paper at least.
Building work on the $264 million venue is still ongoing, and final FIA approval was only granted 11 days before the first F1 car is intended to turn a wheel in anger. While the circuit and race facilities are up to scratch, concern has been expressed regarding availability of accommodation for the numbers of spectators expected. The track has a theoretical fan capacity of 135,000.
It is fair to say that the Korean peninsula has not seen a lot of international motorsport events over the years. The Portuguese enclave of Macau in neighbouring China has hosted a celebrated end-of-season Formula Three race since 1983, and in 1999 a street race in Changwon, in south-eastern Korea, was instituted to form a double-header with Macau, saving the teams' travel budgets, and so the Korea Super Prix was born. Jenson Button was runner-up in that inaugural event to fellow Brit Darren Manning, while in 2000 the podium was filled by future F1 backmarkers Narain Karthikeyan, Tiago Monteiro and Gianmaria Bruni. The final Super Prix, in 2003, saw Lewis Hamilton on pole position, but the McLaren protege was eliminated in a first-corner collision with Nelsinho Piquet.
It would be remiss not to mention that South Korea's Kumho have been the official tyre suppliers to the Formula 3 Euroseries for a number of years now, while the country's biggest car manufacturer, Hyundai, competed in the World Rally Championship with their Accent model from 2000-2003. Rumours continue to link Hyundai to an F1 project at some indeterminate time in the future, though previously mooted suggestions of a link-up with Prodrive now look distinctly unlikely.
The Yeongam circuit features three lengthy straights ending in big braking zones, and two probable overtaking opportunities at Turns 3 and 4. The remainder of the lap consists of a busy sequence of left and right combination turns, taken at medium-to-high speed, that should play into the hands of cars with high downforce levels. Simulations suggest a lap time of around 1 minute 40 seconds, at an average speed of 120mph, broadly comparable to Montreal or Valencia. Like the last new venue in Abu Dhabi, the lap runs anticlockwise, with the pitlane on the outside of the circuit along the seafront. The track is likely to be hard on brakes, while oil from the freshly-laid tarmac may mean a low-grip surface, particularly if it rains. October is one of the driest months in Korea, however, and average temperatures are mild at 22 Celsius.
There isn't much to go on for those seeking trends to base their predictions on. The podium finishers at the most recent new venue races have been:
Abu Dhabi, 2009: 1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Mark Webber (Red Bull), 3. Jenson Button (Brawn)
Singapore, 2008: 1. Fernando Alonso (Renault), 2. Nico Rosberg (Williams), 3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
Valencia, 2008: 1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari), 2. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 3. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
Istanbul, 2005: 1. Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren), 2. Fernando Alonso (Renault), 3. Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren)
Shanghai, 2004: 1. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 2. Jenson Button (BAR), 3. Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren)
Bahrain, 2004: 1. Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), 2. Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari), 3. Jenson Button (BAR)
Current Drivers' Records at New Grands Prix
| Rubens Barrichello | 11 | 9 | 1st (1) | 29 | 2 | 0 | |
| Michael Schumacher | 8 | 5 | 1st (2) | 27 | 2 | 1 | |
| Fernando Alonso | 6 | 5 | 1st (1) | 26 | 0 | 1 | |
| Jenson Button | 6 | 6 | 2nd (1) | 24 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sebastian Vettel | 3 | 3 | 1st (1) | 17 | 0 | 0 | |
| Lewis Hamilton | 3 | 2 | 2nd (1) | 14 | 1 | 0 | |
| Jarno Trulli | 6 | 4 | 4th (1) | 14 | 2 | 0 | |
| Felipe Massa | 5 | 4 | 1st (1) | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| Nico Rosberg | 3 | 3 | 2nd (1) | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mark Webber | 6 | 4 | 2nd (1) | 9 | 2 | 0 | |
| Timo Glock | 3 | 3 | 4th (1) | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Nick Heidfeld | 6 | 5 | 5th (1) | 7 | 1 | 0 | |
| Robert Kubica | 3 | 3 | 3rd (1) | 6 | 0 | 0 | |
| Heikki Kovalainen | 3 | 3 | 4th (1) | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kamui Kobayashi | 1 | 1 | 6th (1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sebastien Buemi | 1 | 1 | 8th (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | 1 | 1 | 15th (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Adrian Sutil | 3 | 1 | 17th (1) | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Jaime Alguersuari | 1 | 0 | Ret | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Lucas di Grassi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Nico Hulkenberg | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Vitaly Petrov | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Bruno Senna | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Sakon Yamamoto | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
Chassis Records at New Grands Prix (1993-onwards)
| Ferrari | 22 | 15 | 1st (4) | 65 | 5 | 2 | |
| McLaren | 22 | 13 | 1st (2) | 63 | 8 | 1 | |
| Williams | 22 | 16 | 1st (2) | 56 | 4 | 2 | |
| Renault | 22 | 16 | 1st (2) | 51 | 0 | 6 | |
| Mercedes GP | 14 | 11 | 2nd (1) | 36 | 3 | 0 | |
| Red Bull | 14 | 12 | 1st (1) | 29 | 1 | 1 | |
| BMW Sauber | 21 | 16 | 3rd (1) | 18 | 2 | 3 | |
| Force India | 22 | 15 | 3rd (1) | 10 | 3 | 4 | |
| Toro Rosso | 21 | 12 | 5th (1) | 9 | 6 | 3 | |
| Lotus | 4 | 4 | 4th (1) | 3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Hispania | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Virgin | 0 | - | - | - | - | - |
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for Red Bull include Stewart and Jaguar
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Force India include Jordan
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Engine Records at New Grands Prix (1993-onwards)
| Renault | 34 | 25 | 1st (4) | 99 | 2 | 7 | |
| Ferrari | 42 | 30 | 1st (4) | 76 | 7 | 5 | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 26 | 17 | 1st (1) | 66 | 7 | 2 | |
| Cosworth | 45 | 28 | 1st (2) | 39 | 10 | 7 |
Results for Mercedes-Benz include Sauber
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
"New Grands Prix": 1993 EUR, 1994 PAC, 1996 AUS, 1997 AUT, 1999 MAL, 2004 BAH, 2004 PRC, 2005 TUR, 2008 EUR, 2008 SGP, 2009 ABU
Championship Contenders' Records at Anti-Clockwise Circuits
| Fernando Alonso | 23 | 20 | 1st (3) | 135 | 1 | 2 | 7.57 |
| Jenson Button | 27 | 22 | 1st (1) | 88 | 3 | 1 | 10.04 |
| Felipe Massa | 18 | 16 | 1st (5) | 77 | 1 | 1 | 6.83 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 11 | 9 | 1st (2) | 65 | 1 | 1 | 4.82 |
| Mark Webber | 23 | 13 | 1st (1) | 63 | 6 | 3 | 8.09 |
| Sebastian Vettel | 10 | 8 | 1st (1) | 53 | 1 | 1 | 6.5 |
Notes:
- Alonso finished seventeen successive anti-clockwise races in the top 10, from Brazil 2003 to Singapore 2009.
- Button has qualified on the front row for an anti-clockwise race only once in the past four seasons (2nd - Turkey 2009).
- Massa took seven successive pole positions at anti-clockwise courses from 2006-08, winning five and giving up a sixth at Interlagos in 2007.
- Hamilton has failed to finish the last two evening/night races (Brakes in Abu Dhabi 2009; Collision in Singapore 2010).
- Webber has scored the most points at anti-clockwise circuits in 2009 and 2010 to date (56).
- Vettel has started four anti-clockwise GPs on the front row, but only one from pole position (Turkey 2009).
