Korean GP 2012 - Race

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Another Red Bull front row but this time is Webber ahead of Vettel. McLaren has one driver on the second row , Hamilton and another on the sixth, Button was affected –like several others- by a very hectic Q2 session. Alonso was satisfied with his 4th place, Raikkonen and Massa were next in row 3, the second Lotus of Grosjean will share row 5 with Force Indias’s Hulkemberg ahead of the Mercedes pair. 

Our terrible QF marks are now a season-long well established pattern. With thirteen zeroes on the chart we keep breaking historic records. Fredrik and Sebastian took a chance with WEB on pole to score 2 points (+ HAM 3rd), we only managed a total of 10 points collectively, and the way this is going I’m afraid we’re going to do even worst soon. Let’s not even talk about it.

http://f1.manbos.com/userbets.asp?t=2012&gpn=Korea&nevent=qualifying

The grid for tomorrow:

WEB  VET  HAM  ALO  RAI  MAS  GRO  HUL  ROS  SCH  (BUT 11th – PER 12th)

Except for the Red Bull guys it was a very eventful QF session. Hamilton and Alosno were very close to get out in Q1 (16 & 17th) as they sat on their boxes saving a set of option tyres. A last moment yellow flag in Q2 ruined Button’s and both Sauber chances of making it into Q3. Hamilton went all out in the shoot-out trying to catch the Red Bulls, his chances of winning the Championship admittedly over he is only interested in race wins. Alonso in contrast, was more concerned in preserving his set of red-colored tyres for the opening stint of the race tomorrow. Despite their different approach both Hamilton & Alonso’s laptimes were only between 2 and 3 tenths behind Red Bull’s, which brings hope that in race trim the McLaren and the Ferrari will give chase at the front.

The deciding factor tomorrow will be tyre management. With the low-abrasion surface characteristics of the Yeongam circuit and the very narrow difference in laptimes between the 2 compounds (0.2 – 0.6 secs) Pirelli admits this could be a one stop race –“you almost do the entire race in one set of softs” they say (advantage Perez and Sauber?)That means that we could see different strategies for the front runners and depending on how they manage their tyre temperatures there could be big speed differentials among the leading cars at different stages of the 53-lap race. Let’s keep count of the number of times the lock-up their tyres under braking: nursing the front rubber could be the key of the race. And of course all could be decided at the start (oh my, where is Grosjean starting?...) the odd-number starting grid positions (WEB- HAM – RAI) have an advantage over the even-ones (VET – ALO – MAS) on this once-a-year  used track.

OK, let’s test our skill and knowledge again. 

Cato (18th on the standings) – VET  HAM  ALO  WEB  RAI  MAS

Enjoy!

Back to Comments          Back to InfoNews