F1 2012 — A Retrospective Part 17: South Korea
The balance started to shift in the last few races, but was Vettel capable of taking the initiative going into the final five races?
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel was quickest in Q1 and Q2, but Mark Webber took his second pole position of the season, beating his teammate by .74s in Q3, for a Red Bull front row lock out. This was the second race in a row that the Austrian outfit took first and second on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton was third ahead of Fernando Alonso in fourth. This was the Spaniard’s best Saturday result in six races.
Felipe Massa was sixth in the other Ferrari, but it was Kimi Raikkonen in fifth. The Lotus driver hadn’t qualified that high since his third place in Belgium four races ago.
Jenson Button missed out on Q3 entirely. A set of yellow flags being waved on track interrupted his hot lap, meaning he was unable to improve his time from the first run of the session.
The yellow flags were waved due to Daniel Ricciardo pulling over from a gearbox issue that ended his session prematurely. He took a five place grid penalty to bring in a new one, which moved him from 16th to 21st.
Romain Grosjean and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth. This was the German’s best qualifying performance since his fourth place at his home Grand Prix.
Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher rounded out the top 10. The pace of the Mercedes was not quite what it was in the first half of the season and they were now firmly competing with Force India and Sauber for the final points positions at most races.
Pre-Race
Sky Sports reminded viewers what happened in 2010, when the championship took a massive twist here. Both Red Bulls failed to finish.
Webber spun in the wet and crashed into Rosberg in the aftermath. Vettel suffered a mechanical issue from first place, which handed the win to Alonso and with it the lead of the Driver’s Standings.
This time out it was set to be a dry race, but the potential was still there for Vettel to take Alonso’s lead in the championship. However, there was still a lot of action left to go in these final five races.
Ted Kravitz interviewed Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali about their prospects of winning this race and he was not entirely optimistic.
“I don’t want to say that it’s not possible [to win] because it’s something that we can achieve but it will not be easy,” said the Italian.
“Also, because considering the starting position here — the fact we are on the dirty side of the grid — makes a little bit of a difference because there’s no other racing around, so the grip level is lower than the other side.
“So, we may lose some positions there. But the most important thing of the race is to not finish the race in the first corner or first lap because otherwise it will be more difficult.”
There were rumours around this weekend that Ferrari were prepared to re-sign Massa with the team for the 2013 season. His qualifying pace had improved since the opening six races, but he was still lagging behind Alonso.
The tyre wear for this race was expected to be similar to in Canada. The Super Soft and the Soft tyres were available for the Grand Prix, with all of the top 10 starting on the Super Soft.
Button, Sergio Perez, Kamui Kobayashi, Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne all opted to start on the Soft compound.
Christian Horner was adamant to Sky that his two Red Bull drivers were free to race each other from the start. Webber was not expected to move over for Vettel despite the German being much closer to Alonso in the championship battle.
Sky also highlighted the danger of the pit exit on this track. Upon leaving the pit lane, drivers are guided straight back onto the track at Turn One.
They showed a clip from the 2011 race here, showing Alonso almost crashing with Schumacher upon rejoining the track. Drivers needed their wits about them when re-entering the race.
This was another archive that preserved Martin Brundle’s grid walk. He once again had a great back and forth with Button, with both of them having a friendly go at each other.
He also got the cameraman to get a close up of another network presenter’s jacket, which had two clips pinned into the back of it to make it look tighter, which was bizarre.
Brundle almost collided with the BBC’s David Coulthard, which would’ve been an awkward moment for the rival broadcasters.
Rosberg was interviewed and he was complaining of understeer on the way to the track. In fact, every driver Sky spoke to pre-race had the same problem.
Rosberg admitted he was, at best, racing against Schumacher, Hulkenberg and the two Saubers today, another sign Mercedes had gone backwards in the second half of this season.
A quick word with Paul Hembery, the Pirelli Motorsport Director, yielded the answer that today’s race strategy was likely to be a two-stop. “One’s going to be on the limit,” he said.
The race start was going to be crucial to a good race. The lap is quite unusual in that it starts with three long straights, followed by 15 tight corners, so the first sector was the optimal place for overtaking moves.
“Basically, you’ve got three tight corners. Essentially, it’s like three starts, one after the other. So you’ve got to have your wits about you there,” explained Anthony Davidson.
Lotus team boss Eric Boullier was interviewed just before the formation lap got underway. He said he was expecting a potential podium from Raikkonen, but was less hopeful for Grosjean’s chances.
Sky warned of Grosjean’s seven first lap incidents so far this season. There was a lot of pressure on him following yet another disastrous start in Japan last time out. He needed a clean race here.
Race
Vettel got the better of Webber in the second phase of the start and took the inside of his teammate at Turn One for the race lead. On the exit of Turn Two, Webber and Alonso both picked up the slipstream on the car ahead. They pulled to the outside in an attempt to get ahead.
Webber was unable to re-take first from Vettel, but Alonso moved ahead of Hamilton who was also facing pressure from Raikkonen down his inside. Massa almost made it four abreast into Turn Three, but he wisely tucked in behind and readied himself for the exit of the corner. Alonso was now third, Hamilton fourth and Raikkonen fifth.
Grosjean ran wide at Turn Three but avoided any contact. He lost out to Hulkenberg and dropped to eighth. He was not the only one to go wide at that corner.
The picture of the front-runners coming into Turn Four also showed Button lagging behind at the back near Turn Three.
He had suspension damage! The McLaren’s race was over. Replays showed, he made contact with Kobayashi. “What an idiot,” said Button. The Japanese driver tried to squeeze through the gap between Button and Schumacher in the run up to the corner but misjudged it entirely.
He broke later than the cars either side of him and rammed into the McLaren. The Sauber’s rear left made contact with Button’s right front, which caused the damage. Kobayashi’s front wing was destroyed as a result of the contact.
As the front runners turned into Turn Four, Raikkonen attempted a move on Hamilton, but was unable to get ahead as Hamilton squeezed the Finn wide. This allowed Massa through into Turn Five for fifth place.
Vettel led by seven tenths at the end of the opening lap. The Safety Car wasn’t needed as Button parked his car well away from the track. However, there were yellow flags waved in the first sector, Rosberg had pulled over on the straight between Turn Two and Three and he was also out of this race. He had an engine failure.
Brundle called the battle between Webber and Vettel “tremendous,” as replays showed their fight for position on the opening lap.
Replays of the start also showed contact between Perez and Hulkenberg. Perez had nowhere to go and ran into the back of the German. The contact was minimal in the grand scheme of things, but the Sauber was certainly missing a part of its front wing.
The action quietened down in the early stages as cars settled into a rhythm. It was not helped by the waved yellow flags still present on that main straight. Despite that, di Resta managed to overtake Bruno Senna into Turn Three on lap five for 11th.
The Mercedes was still not removed by lap seven. Eventually, DRS was disabled while they moved it out of the way. It wasn’t until lap nine that the car was removed and DRS was enabled again.
In the meantime, Kobayashi was handed a drive-through penalty for his role in the opening lap collision with Button. On-track, Pastor Maldonado was passed by both Toro Rossos for 13th place.
Vergne was ahead of Ricciardo, but the Australian was complaining that he was losing time behind the Frenchman, an obvious assertion that the team should let him ahead.
However, Vergne then passed Senna into Turn Three for 12th place. Ricciardo followed suit on lap 10 in an identical overtaking move. Senna was complaining of a front wing issue on his car.
Meanwhile, near the front, the gap between the two Red Bulls was 2s and Massa was beginning to catch Hamilton for fourth.
Three cars were battling for seventh. Hulkenberg led Grosjean and Perez. The battle for 10th between Schumacher and di Resta was also being hotly contested, with Vergne caught up to the back of by lap 12.
The Force India driver attempted a move on Schumacher on the inside of Turn Four, but the German kept the position by holding firm around the outside, which gave him the inside at Turn Five.
Hamilton was the first of the leading pack to pit. Hulkenberg and Grosjean were in right behind him on lap 13.
Button was interviewed about the incident with Kobayashi. He was very unhappy with the accident and claimed a drive-through penalty was insufficient punishment for the Sauber driver. He thought the young drivers were all far too rash during the opening lap.
Hamilton came out of the pit lane in seventh place. Webber, Massa and Raikkonen were next to come in. Everyone was changing onto the Soft compound. Hamilton maintained his position ahead of the Ferrari and Lotus drivers.
Perez was yet to pit and was now fourth ahead of Hamilton. Vettel and Alonso both stopped on lap 15. Alonso just about came out ahead of Perez, which was crucial. The Mexican attempted a pass on Alonso into Turn Three, but the championship leader held the position out of the corner.
Hamilton was so close behind that he almost ran into the back of Perez at the run into the corner. Hamilton eventually took the position from Perez at Turn Five and was back into fourth.
Massa was next to overtake Perez. He moved back into fifth by overtaking the Sauber at Turn Three under DRS. Raikkonen did the same on the following lap for sixth.
Kobayashi retired in the other Sauber. He was already a lap down after his first lap incident and drive-through penalty. It was now an “open secret” that Sauber were replacing the Japanese driver for 2013 with Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutiérrez.
Perez finally pitted on lap 18. Alonso was starting his charge on Webber for second.
Maldonado was the only one yet to pit. Hulkenberg overtook the Williams driver for seventh on lap 19. Grosjean, behind, was unable to make the move at the same time. He was stuck behind Maldonado until he was able to make the move under DRS on lap 20.
“These tyres are not going to last,” said Hamilton. They were only six laps old, but were going to need to do another 15–20 laps before Hamilton could pit again under the two-stop strategy. The one-stop was beginning to look like a lost cause for every driver now.
“Lost downforce,” was Hamilton’s next radio message. He was struggling out there now. Massa gained on the Briton by one second on the previous lap. The gap between them was now only seven tenths.
“Felipe Massa has tremendous speed though. This is more about Massa’s speed than Hamilton’s lack of it right now. He’s matching Vettel out front,” said Brundle.
The Ferraris were coming alive on these Soft tyres.
Massa passed Hamilton under DRS and took fourth place. Brundle mentioned that Hamilton had lost front-end downforce and was also being told to manage his tyres. That was easy pickings for the Brazilian, who went down the inside into Turn Three.
“Good lad. Pull away from him now, it’s just graining,” said Rob Smedley over the radio to Massa. They obviously believed Hamilton was capable of coming back at them later in the race so needed to open the gap of separation before that happened.
Raikkonen was next up, as Hamilton was locking up at almost every corner. Alonso, too, was now reeling in Webber. The gap was down to 2.5s and the Spaniard was gaining time in the first sector.
Hamilton’s front right tyre looked totally out of shape, it was very worn down already. Raikkonen wasn’t quite able to make the pass at Turn Three, he attempted to go around the outside and didn’t have the room to pull it off.
Hamilton locked up at Turn Four. He was told over the radio that it was a “mechanical balance issue,” but he stayed out still, despite locking up at almost every corner.
On lap 24, Raikkonen looked to have made the move stick at Turn Three. But Hamilton came back at him with KERS in the run down to Turn Four. He took the inside line and moved Raikkonen wide and re-took fifth.
David Croft described this battle as “lovely clean racing,” before the two Sky Sports commentators took a swipe at the younger drivers on the grid.
They both agreed that they could learn a thing or two from these World Champions, who both avoided contact despite following each other so closely through so many corners.
Meanwhile, up front, Alonso closed the gap to Webber to within 1.6s. Vettel was 8s up the road and looking far more comfortable than the Australian.
The battle between Hamilton and Raikkonen was costing them 1.5s per lap to the leaders as they continued to fight through lap 25. The Finn was too far back to make an attempt into Turn Three this time, but he was still in DRS range.
It wasn’t just Hamilton who was struggling on these tyres. Webber, too, was having trouble. “I keep locking the front right here, mate,” he told his race engineer.
Further back, Vergne overtook Schumacher for 10th.
Raikkonen tried a cut back on Hamilton at Turn Three into the run up to Turn Four, but it was ineffective. He was trying everything he could to pass the McLaren, but Hamilton was proving too stubborn so far.
Hamilton finally pitted on lap 26. This was surely an admission of defeat and a move to a three-stop. To compound the issue, the front tyre was slow coming on so a second was lost in the pits.
However, Webber started to pick up the pace. His tyres were coming alive when Hamilton’s were falling off. He was four tenths quicker than Alonso on lap 28. The gap between them was up to 2.3s by lap 29.
Hamilton wasn’t happy on the new set of Soft tyres either. He claimed he was “nervous,” about the car after only a couple of laps on the new set. He was now in eighth, behind Grosjean. He was informed his pace was good, and that he was now on Plan B — all but confirming a three-stop.
Massa’s tyres were handling far better. In fact, the Brazilian was quicker than his teammate at this stage. He went six tenths quicker than Alonso on the previous lap.
On lap 30, Massa set the quickest lap of the race so far.
Hulkenberg and Grosjean were still battling for position. They were both promoted by Hamilton’s pit stop, so were now fighting over sixth place. Hulkenberg went deep into Turn Three, but held the position under increasing pressure from the Lotus.
However, Grosjean eased the German’s peace of mind by coming in for his second stop on lap 31.
Webber was next in. Alonso was starting to gain again on the Australian signalling the end of the tyre life. Hulkenberg responded to Grosjean’s stop by also coming in. However, the Frenchman got ahead. The undercut worked.
They tussled going into Turn Three, but Grosjean was able to hold off the German for what was effectively sixth place.
There was a 10s gap between Vettel and Alonso, who were both yet to pit a second time. But Massa was gaining by 2s a lap.
Alonso stopped in lap 34. He was still behind Webber. On lap 35, Vettel locked up massively, effectively finishing his set of tyres, before pitting at the end of that lap. That lock up cost him time. The gap was now 5.5s to Webber. Massa and Raikkonen followed the race leader into the pit lane.
Further behind, Grosjean ran wide at the final corner and was lucky not to collide with the wall or even lose control of his car.
Hamilton was now sixth, which his team were apparently now targeting as his finishing place. They sounded hopeful that they could finish the race on that set of tyres but, based on Hamilton’s previous stint, that was not going to be done easily.
Vettel went fastest on lap 38. He was told not to worry about Webber and to manage his tyres. Webber and Alonso were matching pace with each other, which suited Webber. Massa went quicker by 1.5s on the previous lap, he was flying it on the Soft tyres.
After a few laps of tussling for 11th, di Resta finally overtook Schumacher. Perez was waiting right behind in 13th.
“You’re a bit too close to Fernando [Alonso],” said Smedley over the radio to Massa. The message was clear. He was told to keep a gap of 2s to his teammate.
As pointed out by Brundle, this was the partnership between these two at Ferrari coming full circle. In Germany 2010 it was “Fernando is faster than you,” and now he was being told Alonso was slower than him.
However, for the sake of the Driver’s Championship, he had to stay behind his teammate.
On lap 40, Kravitz reported from the Ferrari garage that they didn’t think Alonso was going to be able to catch Webber in the final 15 laps. That wasn’t going to stop the Spaniard from trying.
Hamilton’s woes continued. He was now under pressure from Grosjean. The Frenchman attempted to pass him around the outside at Turn Three, but he ran wide and off the track.
He came back at Hamilton down the inside of Turn Four, but again the Briton defended the position.
However, Hulkenberg was able to come around the outside of Hamilton and, despite the McLaren driver trying to push him wide, he held his ground and took the inside line into Turn Five, and with it he moved up from eighth into sixth. That was a fantastic move from all three drivers.
On lap 41, Hamilton was told he was going to have to pit again so he had to push over the next couple of laps.
By lap 42, Croft and Brundle were complimentary of this very strange track. It wasn’t in F1 for very long, but it made an impact.
On lap 43, only 1.3s separated the two Ferraris. But Massa dropped back again. The Brazilian was clearly handling the tyres much easier at this point, but he had to play his role in the team.
The action continued, as Perez overtook Schumacher for 12th. They weren’t in the points, but the fighting for those positions was intense.
Hamilton stopped for the third and final time at the end of that lap.
On lap 44, there was a 4s gap between Webber and Alonso. The Ferrari driver was quicker in the first sector, but couldn’t keep up with Webber’s pace in the second and third sectors.
However, Webber was warned that his front right was wearing down. He was going to have to manage that until the end.
On lap 46, Massa was told that Alonso was beginning to push. Ferrari were not giving up just yet.
Ricciardo lost out on roughly 4s after he ran wide. Hamilton was pushing Vergne behind, but they were both able to gain massively on the Australian after this visit around the outer limits of the circuit.
Hamilton was continuing to pressure Vergne over ninth place, but he was unable to get close enough to make a move. He was on the Super Soft tyres, which just didn’t look capable of the same speed as the harder Soft compound tyres.
Vettel was being warned on a constant basis about his tyres. Red Bull were getting worried while Ferrari were pushing.
Vettel’s race engineer Guillaume “Rocky” Rocquelin was in conversation with the German at almost all times. He warned the driver “anything can happen,” about his tyres. Red Bull simply did not trust them to last the remaining few laps without being heavily massaged. In particular, the right front was under a lot of stress.
Vergne passed Ricciardo for eighth on lap 52. The Australian was struggling on his tyres. Brundle said it looked to him like Ricciardo let his teammate through. He certainly didn’t defend his position at Turn Three all that much.
On lap 53, yet more disaster struck for Hamilton. A large chunk of astro turf flew up onto the McLaren’s floor. It was hanging off the side of the car and costing Hamilton a lot of time.
The astro-turf had been coming up in clumps over the course of the race and Brundle wondered if it might yield a Safety Car at some point so that it could be cleaned up. But the race continued and Hamilton suffered. Suddenly, he was battling Perez for 10th instead of Ricciardo for ninth.
Meanwhile, at the front, Rocky was pleading with Vettel to slow down. They were so concerned because of the massive lock-up that the German had at the end of his last stint. If that happened again, it could ruin his race. But there were only a couple of laps left, time was on the defending champion’s side.
Vettel eased home on the final lap and took the victory. This was his third race win in a row and it was enough to put him ahead of Alonso in the championship. The Spaniard’s third place wasn’t enough to keep the lead he held onto since Valencia from Round Eight.
Perez was gaining rapidly on Hamilton, who was suffering from a massive loss of downforce. Hamilton just about held on for 10th place as the chequered flag. The Mexican was right on his tail as they rounded the final corner. One more lap and Perez was easily going to finish ahead.
The final standings were as follows
Championship Standings Round 16 (Top Five)
Alonso described the final five races as the start of a “mini championship,” but he got off to a disappointing start to this two-man shoot out for the title. He led after the last eight races, but Vettel took the initiative when it was starting to matter.
Red Bull were starting to look imperious. The victory in Singapore was fortuitous due to Hamilton’s retirement from the lead. But the victories in Japan and now South Korea were comfortable.
They were, of course, helped by Alonso’s own DNF in Japan, but they took full advantage, just as Alonso did earlier in the season in Valencia.
However, despite the setback, Alonso was choosing to remain optimistic.
“We have to be happy with the performance today. We were third and fourth just behind Red Bull who at the moment are difficult to beat,” said Alonso.
“We overtook McLaren in the constructors’ championship, which we didn’t expect. So we are moving in the right direction. We just need a little step to compete with Red Bull and it’s going to be a beautiful last four races.”
For Vettel, it now looked like he had the best car at his disposal and there was little Ferrari, or even McLaren, could do about it. The development race was steering in Red Bull’s favour, and it only brought Adrian Newey even further into the spotlight.
But this season had thrown up so many surprises in the four fifths we have seen so far, that surely it couldn’t end on such a straightforward note as Red Bull running away with it. There was going to have to be more to this story.
However, for Raikkonen, it looked like his tale in this championship fight was at an end.
He didn’t get that victory when the Lotus was capable of it during the European leg of the calendar, and now he was nowhere near either the Red Bull or the Ferrari as the season drew to a close.
With 100 points left up for grabs, 48 was still technically attainable, but it was very much a longshot considering the difference in pace between the Finn and the championship leader.
Post-Race
There was a huge sense of relief at Red Bull. They were seriously concerned about the tyre wear on Vettel’s car in those closing laps, and maybe with one or two more it could’ve ended very differently. Everything worked out this time, but they knew what they just barely avoided.
“You’d be a brave man to bet against him,” said Brundle of Vettel’s championship lead.
No one had been able to string together consecutive race wins up until Japan, but now Vettel had taken his third in a row. That was championship form.
“They’ve got to come with some goodies for that Ferrari if [Alonso’s] to stop Vettel,” he added.
It was very calm in the cooldown room. A very happy Vettel was directing the conversation. Alonso looked a lonely man alongside the Red Bull trio of Vettel, Webber and Newey, who represented the constructor on the podium.
Vettel managed to get the Spaniard to engage in conversation, but Alonso wasn’t there to make friends.
As the three men got ready to celebrate with their customary champagne following the national anthems, Vettel turned to Newey to spray him right in the face. But, rather humorously, the chief technical officer of Red Bull pulled out a pair of goggles just in the nick of time to save himself.
Horner later joked Newey was unable to see for 30 minutes after being sprayed with champagne so this time he came prepared. It was a sign of just how good the atmosphere was at Red Bull. They looked to be in full harmony.
Sky’s Johnny Herbert conducted the podium interviews. Vettel told the former Formula One driver he was “very pleased,” with the result and his performance. This was his 25th Grand Prix win.
Vettel had led the last 145 laps of F1 racing. Ever since Hamilton pulled over on lap 23 of the Singapore Grand Prix, Vettel was yet to give up the race lead he inherited that day.
Hamilton later revealed it was a “rear suspension failure,” that upended his race. He described the problem as a “real battle throughout the whole race.”
He also admitted the “pressure is off now,” as he threw in the towel on the championship fight. There was to be no last hurrah for the Briton at McLaren. His next best bet was to help the team secure second in the constructor’s championship. He simply had too much ground to make up on Vettel in too little time.
Driver in Focus
Last time out it was Kobayashi, but it could’ve been Felipe Massa then too. His form was set to earn him another year at Ferrari. He struggled so much in the opening races of the season that he looked certain to be out of the team come the end of the campaign, but he was starting to turn it around.
Massa had never reached the heights of his 2008 campaign. He so very nearly won a world championship with the team then, but now he was relegated to the very clear role of second in command to Alonso.
The injury he sustained in Hungary 2009 also very obviously set him back a year or two of his career.
He also struggled with the poor performance of the F2012 in a way that Alonso miraculously was able to manage. Both drivers were very clear about the problems the car had, but only Alonso was able to get a hold of it.
For Massa, this left him very much away from the spotlight. Rumours of him being replaced at Ferrari also couldn’t have helped with what was a difficult start to the season. But, his performances ever since coming back from the Summer Break indicated he was ready to fight for his place in the team.
His reward was a podium in Japan, but perhaps being quicker than Alonso was the sweeter moral victory. He paled in comparison to the Spaniard’s ability over the course of their partnership in the team, but on his day he proved he still could hang with the double World Champion.
Race Verdict
This race was unusual, but for this track there was really no other way to describe it. The layout of this circuit was truly bizarre. The first sector was essentially a series of three very long straights, followed by the next two sectors being 15 corners in which overtaking was essentially impossible.
This meant that the action was all focused on Turn Three and Turn Four. If a driver failed to make a move stick there, then they were set to wait until they came back around one more time.
However, there was still a very healthy amount of action at those two corners. The tyre wear drama also made for quite a dramatic finish even though the status quo was maintained.
The panic in Rocky’s voice did make it seem like Vettel was on the verge of collapsing at a moment’s notice. All the while, the two Ferrari drivers were waiting to pounce on any potential mistake.
The fight for the rest of the points positions was quite tight. Hamilton just barely held onto 10th after his series of unfortunate events. Hulkenberg and Grosjean battled from lap one all the way to lap 55. And the two Toro Rossos took home some much needed points in eighth and ninth.
Overall, this was an entertaining race that had a big impact on the championship. The balance of power swung for the first time in eight races. It certainly teed up the last four races excellently. Right when it seemed like the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, the picture started to change.
Result: 4/5
Next up: INDIA
Previous entries in the series can be found here
Part 16: Japan
