Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

Hembery crosses a line
Regular readers of this blog (hello to both of you) will know by now that I've been a consistent supporter of what might loosely be termed the current 'Pirelli formula'. I also more generally have a lot of sympathy for the Italian company's plight, in that it's having to achieve something incredibly intricate and moreover do so with help from the competitors rather lacking in terms of agreeing on testing and the like. And - what strikes me as an obvious point though it seems to pass a disturbingly large number of people by - whatever you think of the 'Pirelli formula' ultimately the tyre company is only doing what it's told.

Talk of the Pirelli tyres was again on many lips in Korea
Photo: Octane Photography

Therefore, when Fernando Alonso complained over the Korean Grand Prix weekend that the tyres available there didn't allow him to push, while he's of course entitled to his opinion personally I didn't agree with his sentiment. But still, I agreed even less with the retort of Pirelli's Paul Hembery, describing it as 'disappointing and below the standards you would expect from such a champion', and even worse: 'I can only suggest he goes to ask the soon-to-be four-times champion how to get the best from the same tyres'.

While I've always found Hembery's frankness refreshing this in my view crossed a line. Indeed it crossed a few of them. The comments seemed petty, gratuitous, intended to wound, as well as got into a matter (i.e. Alonso and Vettel's respective merits) that with his supplier hat on was none of his business, and inappropriate for him to get into. And what's more the comments were highly disrespectful. They'd have been disrespectful when said of any F1 driver, but were especially so of someone who by consensus is the most revered driver of his age, as well as is - as it happens - extremely good at getting performance out of the limited resource Pirellis.

Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

A local inconvenience
Perhaps the aspect of the 2013 Korean Grand Prix that will live longest in the memory was not an act by any of the competitors. As you'll no doubt be aware by now, on lap 38 of the Yeongam race we had the bizarre sight of the pack at racing speeds turning onto the main straight to find a fire recovery jeep before them, tooling towards turn 3 to assist putting out Mark Webber's aflame Red Bull in the run-off area. It's the sort of thing we thought long in the past in F1's ultra safety-conscious age. And for all of the titters that were raised in response the consequences of a racing car colliding with such a vehicle, presumably getting underneath it with its open cockpit exposed, don't bear thinking about. It's probably just as well that the cars came upon it on a long straight, with plenty of time to see it and react.

Mark Webber's Korean race came to a fiery end
Photo: Octane Photography

Sadly in response to it all it seems plenty haven't been able to resist playing the 'blame the naive locals' game. Ted Kravitz for one on his post-race 'notebook' programme said that it all was 'a sign that there isn't really a motorsport heritage in this country'. And he wasn't the only one: Jonathan Legard said roughly the same thing on the BBC's Chequered Flag podcast: 'This goes back to the fact that Korea does not have a racing history...that did not reflect well on the organisation'. Similar sentiments have been expressed frequently on social media too.

But is this fair? On one hand, although the initial word given to the media after the race was that the jeep was released as a result of a unilateral decision by a local Chief Fire Marshal, this was wrong. In fact, it was a mistake the FIA race control made all by itself (and, do you know what, I'd really love to know why the 'blame the locals' story was given to the media in the first place, and by whom). The error was that race control gave the OK to release the vehicle mistakenly believing it was stationed at turn 3, rather than at turn 1. It seems a rather fundamental error, as at any motor sport event it's part of race control's responsibility to know where the recovery vehicles are positioned, indeed you'll see the clerk of the course do a lap in a course car before the first session of the day to check this among other things.

Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

Perez's predicament
After the excitement of the Korean Grand Prix was over I amused myself by taking a look at the latest 2013 drivers' standings (yes, I am tragic). One thing in particular leapt out at me: the positioning of Sergio Perez. He's totalled a mere 23 points, which for illustration is eight fewer than Nico Hulkenberg (who's spent most of the year in a recalcitrant Sauber), as well as is shy of the totals of either Force India pilot and only five clear of Daniel Ricciardo.

Even more absurdly, he's accumulated barely a third of the points he managed over last season for Sauber, 65, before his supposed step-up. That year too he could claim three podium finishes including one near miss of victory; this campaign his best result is a sixth place. But, I can hear Perez-defenders shout, a lot of this can be attributed to the McLaren MP4-28, which has not been a good one. His intra-team yardstick comparison however isn't flattering either. Button has well more than double Checo's score, 58, and is also up 8-6 in qualifying; this is Button remember, not known as a demon over a single lap, someone who has started from pole only once in the last four-and-a-half years (despite being at the sharp end more generally for most of that time). Some have even whispered that Button - without Hamilton pushing him along and with an uncompetitive machine - isn't quite at the top of his form right now either. And even at the best of times he's perhaps more of a number one-and-a-half rather than a number one in the Alonso, Hamilton or Vettel mold. If Perez has designs on being all that you'd think he'd be a bit closer.

Sergio Perez's season has been a disappointing one
Photo: Octane Photography

I'd always thought of McLaren's choice of Perez to replace Lewis Hamilton on its driving staff for this year as an odd one: even last season when he could boast some strong results (if you don't believe me see here and here). Yes, the three podium runs of 2012 were impressive but you wondered how much of them were down to a magic touch on the delicate Pirelli tyres from the C31 if voodoo-like factors aligned. Results otherwise were patchy, there were a few errors, particularly in the rounds after his McLaren contract was signed. Word in the paddock had it that Sauber wasn't all that thrilled with him either, feeling that the car was capable of more than he tended to deliver. And perhaps now Ferrari's reluctance to promote him to the big team - Perez was part of the Scuderia's young driver's programme - makes sense. Perhaps its insouciance over losing him does too.

Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

Romain's renaissance
It goes to show that we should never write a driver off. Particularly not one with the fundamental of raw pace.

Rewind to earlier this year, and it looked liked Romain Grosjean was well into his long goodbye from F1. The second half of his 2012 campaign was the stuff of nightmares: becoming the first F1 driver in almost two decades to get a race ban, thanks to triggering a multi-car pile up at Spa; then he took out Mark Webber at the first turn of the Suzuka race and, led by the Australian, it was open season on Grosjean afterwards, and this seemed to destroy whatever remnants of confidence remained. His driving became tentative, the speed of earlier in the year (wherein in often plain beat Kimi Raikkonen of all people in the same car) shorn apparently, and it added to a campaign that, despite there being good pace on show, included a string of incidents with other cars, particularly early in races.

Romain Grosjean's second half of the 2013
season has been a revelation
Photo: Octane Photography

And the 2013 campaign seemed merely a continuation: error-ridden and almost never getting near to his stable mate in the early rounds. Things reached a nadir in Monaco: Grosjean shunting twice in practice then driving into Daniel Ricciardo in the race. Some thought that Lotus reserve Davide Valsecchi was dusting down his overalls in preparation for being brought off the subs' bench mid-year. But I for one can rather immodestly claim that I cut Grosjean a bit more slack than many did, taking the view that (although it sounds like a cliché by now) for as long as the raw laptime is in there somewhere a driver deserves a bit longer to get it right than most. Indeed, even within his Monaco long dark night of the soul he showed this innate skill, getting out on track with minutes to spare in Q1 (a result of his FP3 smash) and immediately banging in a great lap time, in the most challenging circumstances of a drying track in Monaco, to make it into the next session.

Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

Incredible driver, incredibly shunned
Sebastian Vettel won the Korean Grand Prix at a canter, but as far as most were concerned there was only one star of the show, and without intending disrespect it wasn't Seb. 'Why has Nico Hulkenberg not been snapped up by a top team?' was a common refrain during and after the Yeongam race. And so far as I can tell there isn't an answer.

Nico Hulkenberg has been impressing us in his F1 career
Photo: Octane Photography

The quality of the Hulk's run on Sunday was hardly new either as - after an iffy first half season at Williams in 2010 - he has impressed us pretty much constantly in his time at the sport's pinnacle, as well as he entered F1 with an exemplary junior formulae CV. His drive to fourth place in the Sauber in Korea was simply a reminder that he looks to be a driver good at everything: assured, confident, robust but fair when wheel-to-wheel, avoids errors, has an intelligence which he's able to apply in the cockpit (did you hear him after the race say that he was happy to let Hamilton pass him at turn one, as he knew Lewis would get marbles on his tyres and thus he'd be able to pass him back?). And most importantly of all he's very quick and consistently so.

The F1 drivers' market doesn't always make sense; this to a large extent is inevitable when you have a strictly limited number of available seats which each become vacant but sporadically. Being in the right place at the right time therefore can be vital. Some drivers have had to wait years for a path to open up to a drive worthy of their talent - such as Keke Rosberg (and in his case his belated step-up owed a lot to chance). By extension there will have been plenty of worthy pilots who never got the chance they deserved, many of whom we'd be utterly oblivious as to what they could have done.

Korean GP Report: Drift

I think we've seen this film before. This Korean Grand Prix, in terms of the fight for victory, didn't do anything to challenge the previous direction of travel, it simply continued previous momentum.

Sebastian Vettel cruised to the win again
Photo: Octane Photography

Yes, Sebastian Vettel took another win in Yeongam today, his fourth triumph on the bounce as well as his eighth of the year. And in that rather familiar way of his the result didn't look at all in question from the off, quite literally. The insulting superiority of Singapore wasn't quite in evidence - Seb only won by four seconds and indeed his lead rarely extended to much more - but somehow there seemed as little doubt about who'd be in front at the end. 'Disciplined' was how his boss Christian Horner described the drive. It was the most appropriate adjective.

And what's more the result put Seb on the brink of his latest drivers' title for the collection: now being 77 points ahead with just 125 available. He can win the title next week in Suzuka, but somehow the debate seems irrelevant. It's reaching the point that even if he was to sit out the remaining rounds you wouldn't bet a great deal on anyone behind making up the deficit.

Those rivals you feel rather gave up the ghost effectively a while back. F1 in 2013 has established an unmistakable sense of drift. Drift towards 2014; drift towards title number four for Seb.

Yeongam Preview: When it goes wrong

If someone was to ask you how the F1 calendar has changed in the last 10 years or so, or alternatively ask what the financial model of F1 is these days, in both cases you'd probably come up with the same answer.

You don't need me to tell you that F1 has been chasing the Asian brass in recent times. That the itinerary has incrementally shifted eastwards to the point that today no fewer than eight of the rounds are in Asia (rewind to 1998 and there was only one), including the run of five in a row which we're currently in, tells us this. The story of the new countries joining the calendar usually goes something like this: a government decides it wants to stage a Grand Prix, and is prepared to pay a lot of money for the privilege. Yes, the event will likely make a financial loss, but you can write the loss off either as helping a national or regional branding exercise as a 'place to do business' or else against your tourism budget (or both). Got any motorsport heritage? Or a motorsport infrastructure? Or even much local interest? No? No matter. That will come later. Perhaps.

Impressive new city not pictured.
Yeongam races have an eerie atmosphere.
Credit: LG전자 / CC

But what if it goes wrong? Well, we know. Sadly the tale of the Yeongam facility in Korea that F1 gathers in this weekend is a slow motion demonstration of it.

Korea and F1's road to hell was paved with good intentions, and no little ambition, at least in its days of inception. The talk then was of a street circuit in reverse, with the circuit built and then to be surrounded by a new city complete with a new marina wherein the beautiful people could pose on their boats, as well as the whole range of leisure facilities, hotels etc etc. A Monaco for the new generation if you will. Or perhaps a new Singapore, as a night race was talked about too. It sounded impressive whatever was the case, and presumably that it was in a remote location - some 400km from Seoul on reclaimed swampland near a shipping port - would stop to matter once everything was in place.

Further thoughts on the Korean Grand Prix

Tyred out

Are teams getting their
heads around the Pirellis
Credit: Rich Jones / CC

In F1, as in many things, history has a tendency to repeat itself. The broad pattern of 2012 is a lot like that of 2011. We start the year with apparently 'gumball' Pirelli tyres giving the teams plenty of headaches, providing a large random element to F1 races and even resulting in some complaining that such a 'lottery' is bad for the sport. But eventually teams get their heads around the rubber by the latter part of the season, thus giving us much more 'standard' fare.

That we've just had three rather sedate races in a row (in comparison to those earlier in the year) is evidence of this, as is that the championship battle has become a technical development war, the sort that we've grown used to, with the behaviour of the Pirellis hardly mentioned in the analysis of it. That the Red Bulls and Ferrari finished two-by-two at the front in Korea is also evidence of the establishment of some sort of order.

Be careful what you wish for, as the saying goes. This may not be a thought shared by purists, but I rather miss the gumball Pirelli lotteries.

Woking woes

McLaren - something fundamentally amiss?
Credit: Morio / CC

Perhaps uniquely for an F1 race after this year's summer break, the Korean Grand Prix result did not fundamentally change the picture of the championship battle, merely continued previous momentum. What's more, it seemed to give us something close to clarity in that battle, it now apparently boiling down to one for two players: Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

Yet one team is conspicuous by its absence from all of this. Indeed, it was the very team that at the season's outset looked set to dominate the year; the team that's probably had the most effective and consistently competitive car of the season; the team that is one of the best-resourced squads in the sport and has been so for decades. Yet a team that's managed to (presumably) fritter all this away in the hunt for titles this year. Both drivers have conceded that their championship chances are over, and prospect of the constructors' title now also looks remote. Indeed, it's just sank behind Ferrari, not a team geared to the constructors' title, into third place in the standings. And it's not a new thing, the team has only won one of the last 20 constructors' championships (and just three drivers' titles in that time).

Yeongam Qualifying: Webber provides home discomforts

Mark Webber likes to remind us, just from time to from, that he's a contender.

Just as in Japan, from an early point of the weekend Sebastian Vettel looked the guy to beat in Korea, and it continued to look that way in qualifying. And presumably it would all be a prelude to him bossing the race out front as we've seen from him countless times.

Mark Webber will start at the front tomorrow
Credit: Ryan Bayona / CC

This remained the case right up until the final, vital qualifying run, that's when Seb was reminded that for all of the RB8's improvements in recent times he has opposition in residence. Webber put the thing on its nose and sneaked under Vettel's time. Vettel, behind him, didn't get it right in the first two sectors of his final lap, thus ensuring that the Red Bull front row lock-out perhaps unusually features Aussie Grit ahead.

Is Mark Webber as good as the likes of Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, or his team mate Vettel? Ultimately, probably not. But he's certainly capable of living with them, keeping them honest, and on many days of plain beating them. Today was one such day.

Yeongam Preview: When things go bad

Were someone to ask you how the F1 calendar has changed in the last 10 years or so, or alternatively ask what the financial model of F1 is these days, in both cases you'd probably come up with the same answer.

F1 has incrementally shifted eastwards in recent times, to the point that today no fewer than eight of the rounds are in Asia (rewind to 1998 and there was only one). The story of the new countries joining the calendar usually goes something like this: a government decides it wants to stage a Grand Prix, and is prepared to pay top dollar to the sport to do so. Yes, it'll likely make a financial loss, but it'll write the loss off either as helping a national branding exercise as a 'place to do business' or else to attract more tourists (or both).

But, sadly, the Yeongam facility in Korea shows what happens when things go bad with this.

Yeongam's backdrop is unmistakable,
but not for good reasons
Credit: formulasantander.com / CC

It started with good intentions, and no little ambition. The talk was of a street circuit in reverse, with the circuit built and then to be surrounded by a new city complete with a harbour, leisure facilities, hotels etc etc. A Monaco for the new generation if you will. Or perhaps a new Singapore, as a night race was talked about too. It sounded impressive whatever the case.

Before the first F1 visit, in 2010, construction fell behind schedule and the event looked under threat. As it was, the track was approved a matter of days before first practice and everything was alright on the night, although the facility was skeletal. But rather than reflecting mere teething problems it was a portent of things to come.