Formula 1 Update: Korean Conflict!

It turned out to be one of those "if it didn't really happen, you'd have to make it up" stories this past week end in the newest Formula 1 venue in Korea.     

A track no driver had ever seen was literally still being built between practice session, followed by a heavy rain on race day: it was total chaos.

Unfortunately, either the track designer or the contractors somehow neglected to factor in the track's need to drain and forced race control to start the race under Safety car conditions. This is extremely rare in Formula 1 where standing starts are the norm and where racers often race in heavy rain conditions.

The combination of the rain, poor drainage and a track designed with many walls in close proximity simply made it impossible to see.

Eventually, after an interminable 17 caution laps, they sent them racing. As you remember from the last report the championship contenders were Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mclaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

A couple laps into the restart and championship leader Webber made an error which resulted in him spinning, hitting the inside wall, then bouncing across the track collecting Mercedes' Nico Rosberg in the process. Jenson Button gambled on an early switch to intermediate rain tires, something that would ruin his race and effectively take him out of championship contention.

It looked to be Vettel's day. He was, if not pulling away from second place Alonso, certainly comfortably ahead and the championship lead his.

Then one of the many on track incidents brought out the Safety car again. Leaders pitted and Ferrari had a technical issue during the pit stop allowing Lewis Hamilton through into second place.  But Lewis would also make an uncharacteristic mistake in a braking zone and give back what turned out to be a crucial second place to Alonso.

Towards the end of the race many drivers had problems with excessive tire wear after running their rain tires on a drying track. Only Alonso and Vettel looked "racy".  Because of the long start delay, darkness was also a serious issue.  Vettel called out on his radio for the race to stop because of poor visibility.  But was that the real reason?  A lap or two later, his Red Bull slowed on the front straight and started spewing sparks, smoke and metal bits, to the delight of Ferrari and Mclaren crews.

Fernando Alonso went on to win, with Lewis Hamilton not able to challenge.  A double DNF was very costly for Reb Bull, Webber lost the championship lead, now held by Alonso and Vettel now has only a mathematical chance to win.

Two races left and it's now down to two drivers with a realistic shot at the title: Alonso Webber and Hamilton with an outside chance.  Get your permutation calculators out, there are only two races to go!

Fernando Alonso      231
Mark Webber          220
Lewis Hamilton       210
Sebastian Vettel      206
Jenson Button         206

There are 50 points still in play.

-Andrea

Read more from Andrea Cairone at Axis of Oversteer

Photo Credit: Usag Yongsan