Korean GP 2012- Preview

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As Alonso put it down, this is now a mini-world championship of five races with the first round taken place this weekend in Korea. 

The momentum is shifting to Vettel with 2 straight wins and the Red Bull looking better than anytime during the season; Alonso’s Ferrari is lacking the one-lap pace necessary to challenge for the front in QF but is always very strong comes Sunday when it matters the most.  Not far behind is Mr. Consistency Raikkonen, the only driver to have completed every racing lap of the season. His Lotus will be the only car with a full range of updates and they confirm they will use their ‘Coanda-effect-exhaust’ for the first time during the race. The last driver with a shot at getting involved is Hamilton, but with a 42 point disadvantage and an uneasy relationship with the team he is leaving soon most likely will play the part of spoiler to the main protagonists.

To make matters more interesting the winners of the 2 previous Korean GPs are Alonso and Vettel with Hamilton in second on both occasions. These three are the only drivers with 3 victories this year.

The 3 sectors of the Yeongam circuit demand complete opposite behaviour from the car pushing the teams to compromise a difficult set-up. The first has 3 straights connected by slow hairpins that required low drag and braking stability; the second is made of fast corners where downforce is key; and the third is made of slow turns where traction is critical. It will be fascinating to see which team will solve this challenge better than the rest.

So far the pole sitter hasn’t won the Korean GP. Vettel has 4 poles this year and now with 34 is the 3rd all time record holder, a long way behind Schumacher with 68 and the great Senna with 65.

The weather forecast calls for sunny and 19 to 21 degrees C, that’s good news compared with the monsoon that spoiled the race last year.

Let’s connect again tomorrow with the latest

Cheers

Cato

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