Formula 1: The Korean GP

How often do you see a F1 driver walking or jogging around a race track during a race weekend? Not very often. Drivers, engineers and a host of individuals connected to teams at one level or the other, spent lengthy intervals exploring the minute intricacies of the brand new track – the Korea International Circuit.

The 2010 season has surpassed all that was expected of it. Even if you are in the category marked – insatiable fan – you would be hard pressed to find signatures for your petition because the competition, the drama, the intrigue and the battles have all been of the highest order, rivaling those often spoken about by F1 veterans.

Each year, the experts know even before the lights take a leave of absence for the first race, which teams are in the stronger group and which ones will be battling for the minor spots. In the highly secretive environment of F1, it was known to even the maintenance staff at the circuits, that Red Bull Racing, McLaren-Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, were major contenders for both championships. What wasn’t known, however, was the recently emerging fact, that the drivers for each team, driven by a blind, overwhelming, innate force, would engage in a championship fight that would make heavyweight boxing look like child’s play.

Mark Webber

In their relentless pursuit for victories and the privilege of being toasted as driver champion for 2010, Mark Webber (202 pts), Fernando Alonso (206 pts), Sebastian Vettel (206 pts), Lewis Hamilton (192 pts) and Jenson Button (189 pts), have raised the bar to possibly insurmountable heights.

South Korea hosts the first of the 3 remaining rounds this weekend. The circuit is an unknown factor. It is 5.621 km in length. It has a mixture of elements which gives no team a clear advantage and it boasts a 1 km straight section! The drivers will seek to pounce where their chassis is strongest and hope for the best where it is weakest.

Webber wants to extend his lead. Alonso and Vettel want to reduce Webber’s lead. Hamilton and Button want to stay in the chase. Some things are too good to be true. Why would you want to miss the 2010 Formula 1 Korean GP?

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer