An interesting qualifying in Korea last night. Interesting but not hugely surprising with RedBull once again a couple of tenths of a second ahead of everyone else. Vettel was 0.07 seconds quicker than Webber around the three and a bit mile circuit.
The circuit only finished laying the track surface a couple of weeks ago and no team’s even seen the place, let alone turned a wheel here before. The simulators suggested pole would be taken in a time of around 1:44. Vettel set a time of 1.35.585 (a little over 2 seconds faster than practice), with restrictions on gear ratios and final drive changes there was a lot of guesses based on inaccurate simulation data.
Alonso was third, Hamilton fourth. The third row was made up of the surprising Niko Rosberg (once again significantly ahead of team mate Schumacher) and the second Ferrari with Massa. The other McLaren was in seventh, unquestionably disappointing for Button, who claimed to unable to get his tires up to temperature.
This was Vettels 9th pole in what’s been a remarkable season for the RedBull team.
A quick drivers championship recap, Webber leads Vettel and Alonso by 14 points in the drivers championship. The McLaren drivers are a little further back and realistically need the three drivers in front of them to have a did-not-finish (DNF) or two to really get back into the sharp end of this fight.
Points are scored 25-18-15-12 and so on. With three races to go and 14 points between the top three drivers all three of them need to go for wins. It’s not time for tactical driving yet.
In the earlier qualifying sessions Hamilton was quickest, but when it came to the final session where pole is determined he did not quite have it and ended up fourth.
On a slight side note, I got an email from a friend who’s out there for the GP. They have been put up in what’s usually a “love hotel” where theme rooms are rented by the hour. He is sharing the “celestial room” with moons and astronomical symbols on the wall that glow brightly when the black lights in the room are turned on. A little different to the accommodation at the other races.
Race is tonight at 10:30 PST on Speed TV in the US, should be a good one with so much left to play for.