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/
 
Those stats don't tell the full story because of course the drivers starting higher up (such as Webber) will lose more and gain less places than those starting further back (such as Buemi).

Yes, but Webber has had less places to lose than his team-mate and comparable to the McLarens and Ferraris. Difficult to compare him to Moose, I agree, but he's been pretty poor compared to his locale.
 
Just read Paul Hembrey's assessment of the tyres and it doesn't look promising for McLaren. Apparantly the super-softs last for around 10 laps and the softs 20 laps. However the lap time difference between them is only 0.7-1 second per lap in favour of the super-soft. A pit stop at Yeongam takes longer than 7 seconds and McLaren have to make more pit stops... But I suppose they could do the opening stint on the super-softs, then another and if it becomes apparant that that's the wrong strategy they could switch to limit the damage.

If McLaren are ahead at the start I don't see why they don't let Red Bull blink first and mirror their strategy, that way they can't lose barring unforseen circumstances. The only negative to that strategy is the extra 5 laps that Hamilton and Button have on one set of their soft tyres, but it's believed Red Bull are heavier on their tyres anyway.
 
South Korean GP, one word answer = Predictable

This is Schumacher domination all over again, the switch to Sky & Vettel combination is going to drive fans away.

Ironic you get rid of Vettel and F1 would be so much more interesting with Button, Webber, Hamilton and Alonso all close together.

As for Vettel and his "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes....... confirming it is indeed RBR Constructors Championship for a 2nd year.........
 
Worst race of the year. Dull track, dull result, grumpy pole sitter. All in all a pretty pointless and miserable way to start a Sunday :yawn:
 
When races like that are considered boring, you know there's been some great racing this season.

Hamilton and Webber's battle through Sector 2 was incredible.

Can't believe Lewis held onto 2nd.

And what the hell's wrong with Petrov, he MISSED ALONSO in the runoff area! :D
 
I rather enjoyed it in parts. perhaps a bit of an anti-climax with waiting for all to kick off between Webber, Hamilton, Button and Alonso.

Vettel is just a spoilsport though :D, come on man! give somebody else a chance. A Torro Rossobeing best of the rest outside of the top 3 teams. didn't expect to see that. And Massa holding up his own team mate, Ha so much for team orders, or did he just dis-obey Ferrari. Wouldn't blame him either if he did.
 
When races like that are considered boring, you know there's been some great racing this season.

Hamilton and Webber's battle through Sector 2 was incredible.
Indeed.

And Massa holding up his own team mate, Ha so much for team orders, or did he just dis-obey Ferrari. Would blame him either if he did.
But it did cost Ferrari dearly. Alonso was clearly a lot faster. If he wasn't held up by Massa in the first stints, he would have been further ahead and probably about halfway in the race somewhere in between the Hamilton-Webber-Button scrabble instead of catching it at the end. He did have the pace to follow them, while Massa clearly hadn't.
 
hamiltons car just wasnt quick enough,plus he had to keep battling throughout the race which would have wore his tyres out quicker.he did a great job keeping ahead of webber,it was a good battle.
well done to vettel tho,it was easy in the end.
 
But it did cost Ferrari dearly. Alonso was clearly a lot faster. If he wasn't held up by Massa in the first stints, he would have been further ahead and probably about halfway in the race somewhere in between the Hamilton-Webber-Button scrabble instead of catching it at the end. He did have the pace to follow them, while Massa clearly hadn't.

Presuming there was no Team orders, Then it is also Alonsos responsabily to get past Massa. Perhaps a little unfortunate to be behind Massa when Massa was within 1sec of another in the DRS zone.

But yeah, looking at the pace in his final stint. Alonso was really hindered and perhaps could of evenn been second. And ,more questions about Massas race pace, and weather he is good enough for Ferrari.
 
Briiliant drive from Hamilton who fended off Webber for much of the race even though Webber had speed advantage and DRS in his toolbox. Didnt expect Red Bull to have the amount of race pace over Mclaren as much as they did. You'd expect the first sector to belong to Mclaren but straight line speed seems to be one of the areas where RB have took big strides this season.

The one thing that bugs me however is all we ever seem to hear from F1 these days is TYRES TYRES TYRES. Could do with a litle less tyres and a bit more hard racing. Make the tyres more durable and bin DRS - try and sort out the turbulent air overtaking problem in another way.
 
Not a bad race. Will post more in depth later.

However you know something's wrong when it can't rain properly at a lifeless Tilke track in the middle of nowhere.
 
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