Korean Grand Prix, Oct. 24, 2010

But what a nice race for those of us who stayed high and dry. Or at least high. Not a great race, but water always makes F1 events much more interesting (just think what a bit of the h20 could do for NASCAR and Indy; it would make the NFL look positively tame) and even though the water made the show miserable, it was surely a show. To top it off, Ferrari won, sandwiching a tired looking Hamilton with Alonso in first and Massa in third. Massa too looked tired after three hours in the car, tired too of the politics and the crushing effects of a season trying to keep up with a very determined and increasingly experienced Alonso, a driver who despite two previous world championships under his belt, may not yet have reached his peak.

The show really became a show when the world championship points leader Mark Webber did himself in collecting Niko Rosberg the process. Back in the trailers, he hoped against hope that the miserable event would be stopped before the full set of championship points kicked in after the ¾ mark. But the race went on and with every lap Weber saw his hopes for a world championship decrease incrementally. Speedchannel’s Will Buxton says Webber shed tears; well, ok, but I’d rather not believe that. As believable as Randy Quaid wanting to get out on bail so he could feed his puppy. And Webber could not have been all that broken up, he’s in the running with two more races to go and still second in the standings even after Korea. Maybe it was the rain, huh?

And what of Vettel? He was leading, he had it in the bag, he was again dominant and had a clear track ahead of the Renault RBS and then poof, up in smoke. Webber breathes a sigh of relief. Damn glad that sob didn’t finish in the points either, Webber may have thought. Ok, we are pretty sure Webber actually thought that. More sure than shedding a tear anyway. Vettel gets out of the RB faster than you can say Masten Gregory as the RB, after having devoured the Renault engine, proceeds to burn, a mighty rare chemical event in F1 these days. Unfortunately, not so uncommon is the fragility of Renault’s engine and the fact that Vettel has used up his share of new powerplants for the season. The remaining two will be tricky for him.

Hamilton managed a totally uneventful and totally brilliant second place, as to be uneventful and brilliant go hand in hand in the Korean rain. His podium finish keeps him well in line for another world championship this year.

I have noted before the progress this year of Kobayachi, and again at Korea he put in another solid drive, placing 8th overall. He is currently ranked 12th in driver point standing. Kobayachi drives with a maturity beyond his years and has consistently out driven the master himself Schumacher. Wonder what he’d do in a Red Bull.

The master also drove a good event to finish 4th overall, this time ahead of Kobayachi. Now, dear readers, never mind the pit patter and mindless meanderings of other F1 reporters. Tell us now, all contracts aside (for they are meant to be broken) if you were in Michael Schumacher’s shoes, where and what would you do from this point on? And is there a bit of the Niki Lauda syndrome here?, Lauda, that Austrian Ferrari driver who after winning the World Championship in 1977 returned to the track after several years and again won the championship in 1984? Can’t you imaging reading about this, some years from now, as the pundits fondly recall the Schumacher years of triumph, only to end with the sentence…”Schumacher returned to the cockpit several years later but the thrill, the talent, the magic and the victories were gone…he unfortunately could not repeat Niki Lauda’s awesome comeback.”

What a flaming sour note. So what would you do?

Well, Scuderia Ferrari knows what to do at least in terms of right now. Let Alonso loose, give him the best car, let him pass whenever and for crying out loud get Ferrari another World Driver’s Championship, you know, the one that really counts for the fans and the guy in the street. Get offa Google and tell us who won the Constructor’s championship in 1958, 1971, or 1991, and then tell us who cares.

And oh yes, Korea. Korea, with the fourth largest Asian economy, means Kia and Hyundai (under one roof), with GM’s Daewoo also a key player in Korea’s growing auto industry. The Hyundai Pony was the first Korean-developed car, build in 1975. The Kia was first sold in us in 1994 and by 2009 Kia was the 8th-best selling automotive brand in US. The Korean automobile industry is currently the fifth largest in the world in terms of production. Very impressive statistics that support the creation of a major new sports complex and Formula 1 track as a stunning showpiece of their new wealth. South Korea stands in proud contrast to its neighbor to the north. Not saying the U.S. had a great deal to do with South Korea’s success story—but it does make those years fighting over the 38th parallel seem a little more worthwhile now.

Sadly, the U.S. itself is still, still, still not represented in any significant manner in the world’s most glamorous and prestigious racing series. I see a lot of flags, hear a lot of anthems, but alas no Star Spangled Banner and Stars and Stripes.

I daresay we’ll see no U. S. red white and blue at Brazil on November 7th or Abu Dhabi on November 14th either. But no doubt they will be good races.

Race Results

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	2h48m20.810s
2	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 14.9s
3	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 30.8s
4	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	+ 39.6s
5	KUBICA	Renault	+ 47.7s
6	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	+ 53.5s
7	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	+ 69.2s
8	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 77.8s
9	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	+ 80.1s
10	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	+ 80.8s
11	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	+ 84.1s
12	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 89.9s
13	KOVALAINEN	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 1 lap
14	SENNA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
15	YAMAMOTO	HRT-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
16	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	+ 9 laps, accident
17	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 10 laps, engine
18	PETROV	Renault	+ 16 laps, accident
19	GLOCK	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 24 laps, accident
20	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	+ 25 laps, accident
21	DI GRASSI	Virgin-Cosworth	+ 30 laps, accident
22	TRULLI	Lotus-Cosworth	+ 30 laps, hydraulics
23	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 37 laps, accident
24	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	+ 37 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	ALONSO	Ferrari	1m50.257s

Note: Petrov qualified 15th, but dropped five grid places for causing a collision at the last round in Japan.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	231 Points
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	220 Points
3	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	210 Points
4	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	206 Points
5	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	189 Points
6	MASSA	Ferrari	143 Points
7	KUBICA	Renault	124 Points
8	ROSBERG	Mercedes GP	122 Points
9	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes GP	66 Points
10	BARRICHELLO	Williams-Cosworth	47 Points
11	SUTIL	Force India-Mercedes	47 Points
12	KOBAYASHI	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	31 Points
13	LIUZZI	Force India-Mercedes	21 Points
14	PETROV	Renault	19 Points
15	HULKENBERG	Williams-Cosworth	18 Points
16	BUEMI	STR-Ferrari	8 Points
17	DE LA ROSA	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	6 Points
18	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	6 Points
19	ALGUERSUARI	STR-Ferrari	3 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	426 Points
2	McLAREN-MERCEDES	399 Points
3	FERRARI	374 Points
4	MERCEDES GP	188 Points
5	RENAULT	143 Points
6	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	68 Points
7	WILLIAMS-COSWORTH	65 Points
8	BMW SAUBER-FERRARI	43 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	11 Points