Grand Prix 2011 Korean Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Party time has officially begun... if you are Red Bull anyway

So, its now over, Sebastian Vettel is the 2011 world champion after finishing third behind Fernando Alonso and winner Jenson Button. Vettel is not only the youngest ever world champion, but the youngest person to defend his championship after walking to the championship with (so far) a podium in every race bar one and a phenomenal record in qualifying with pole in near enough every single race.

The RB7 has no doubt been the best car of the season and has been night and day quicker than anything else on wheels. Adrian Newey must now be known as the scourge of F1 as he has designed yet another car that has won the championship but surely this has to be one of if not the best car he has ever designed as the RB7 doesn't have the fragility that has struck Newey designed cars.

For Mclaren they have finally found the winning formula again after winning a track that everyone thought Red Bull would walk, however , like in 2010 and 2009, it has come too late and has cost them a shot at the title, but Mclaren really have been Red Bulls only consistent challenger this year due to the surprise lack of speed from the Ferraris.

It hasn't been a great season for Ferrari, in pre season all the signs pointed towards a very strong year for the Scuderia, but it was apparent early on that they were only the third fastest team behind Mclaren (whose pre season was shocking in comparison). After an early season shuffle and because of new regulations they were able to win in Silverstone but that has been the only highlight for Fernando Alonso and as for Massa it has been even worse.

Going into Korea we go into the real unknown as it is unclear who has the best package suited to Korea as the only race we've had at the circuit was severely rain affected so it should be a jump into the darkness, although it will be an even bigger jump when we go to India in the not too distant future.

So congratulations Seb, who is starting to rewrite the record books almost with the ease that Schumacher did in his pomp. Eight world championships for Seb by the time he's finished?

For Galahads brilliant circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/korean-international-circuit/
 
For once, I think that they have the DRS zone absolutely right - we could have some good battles on the straights preceding and succeeding it. Also, it is not too long, and turn 3 is a good overtaking spot anyway.
 
At some circuits DRS enabled the driver behind just to fly past the guy in front, that's nonsense in my view. I think it's rather cool when the driver behind is using DRS to get really close to the car in front and overtakes him later during the lap.

Hope the DRS zone in Korea won't be too long...
 
2 Things:

1) I would prefer to have the DRS between Turns 3 & 4, because I think there will be enough overtaking into Turn 3 anyway.

2) Here's a thought on DRS: why not have it at the start of a straight, and then stop it half way down the straight. I think this would help them get close, but not have a massive advantage into the braking zone. Just a thought...
 
2) Here's a thought on DRS: why not have it at the start of a straight, and then stop it half way down the straight. I think this would help them get close, but not have a massive advantage into the braking zone. Just a thought...

I'm only guessing here, but I reckon that if you had it in the first half, the chasing driver would still have that extra momentum enabling to catch up/overtake easily, even if you closed the wing halfway down. But in any case, is the system designed with sufficient flexibility to allow a closing-the-wing signal to be sent at a certain point without involving the driver hitting the brakes?
 
Agreed, I saw it on youtube and even though I knew it was going to end well my heart still skipped a beat and I got goosebumps. Seriously disturbing, I'm glad safety has improved so much these last years.

Anyway, looking forward to this race, unfortunately I can't watch it until like thursday, so I'm going to have to avoid this site and any news sites like crazy.
 
I’m going to miss the final race at Interlagos, I go away that weekend for 2 weeks, better not see any news for those 2 weeks!
Sorry off topic but thought id join the band wagon! lol
 
What I'd really like to see is in the last couple of laps of the race, many drivers' tyres (falling off the cliff) and then:

a) we can see who is best at driving with no grip;
b) how bad the tyres can go in terms of laptime.
 
Just watching the replay on the red button - have they not bothered doing any more work on the track since last year? It still looks like a building site.
 
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