The third annual F1 Korean Grand Prix is set to kick off this weekend in the southern part of the country, with the battle for the overall championship coming down to the wire.
The Korean Grand Prix, the only F1 stop here each fall, will start with two practice runs this Friday on the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul. The third practice session will be held on Saturday, followed by the qualifying race. The final race will start at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The Korean Grand Prix is the 16th among 20 races in the ongoing F1 season. It’s also part of the F1’s late-season Asian swing, which also covers Singapore, Japan and India.
Drivers will do 55 laps on the 5.615-kilometer Korea International Circuit. Sebastian Vettel of Germany won last year’s race at one hour, 38 minutes and 1.994 seconds.
Vettel claimed the overall championships in 2010 and 2011.
Before the Korean Grand Prix in 2011, he had already won nine out of 15 races, and added victories in South Korea and India to beat Jenson Button by 122 points in the final drivers’ standings.
The race champion is awarded 25 points, with the runner-up earning 18 points and the third-place 15 points and so forth.
This year, the race to the top has been more closely fought.
Fernando Alonso of Spain, the 2010 Korean Grand Prix champ, leads the pack with 194 points, on the strength of three victories.
Vettel is breathing down his neck at 190 points, thanks to his Japanese Grand Prix victory last weekend, his second straight win after Singapore on Sept. 23 and third overall this season. Alonso crashed out of the race at his first corner after sustaining a rear-wheel puncture following contact with Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen is 33 points behind Vettel in third, and this year’s battle could well resemble the two-man race in 2010 between Vettel and Alonso.
Two years ago, Alonso built a 231-206 lead over Vettel thanks to his Korean Grand Prix win. Vettel, the leader through 46 laps in Korea, was forced to retire owing to engine failure.
Vettel had a stronger finish to the season, however, taking the final two events in Brazil and Abu Dhabi to zip past Alonso to his first overall title, 256-252. Alonso ranked third in Brazil and seventh in Abu Dhabi to relinquish his lead.
(Yonhap News)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
