Having now arrived back on my side of the wall, I've returned to find that it is business as usual at the front of the field - the margin has come down a little bit to the chasing pack but there was a certain German doing rather well once more. Just to add to the disappointment all that mention of storms, and of monsoon rainfall seemed to completely evaporate - making it the fourth race in succession where rain was mentioned and all that hope dashed again. It is starting to get to the point where the instance where the merest threat of moisture is mentioned, becomes the point where an exceedingly dry race is virtually guaranteed.
As to the session itself - it was very uneventful, where relative performances have remained the same from Singapore before penalties are applied the top six was composed of the same runners as it was two weeks ago. Yes those positions were not identical but it does show that the state of development has stagnated and relative performance has been cemented. The same teams are placing ahead of each other, and the same ones are at the back - this bodes well for Vettel to canter gently to another drivers title because no-one else has the car speed to prevent it. This necessarily makes qualifying on a track like this more of a formality - each car has an envelope of performance and they will only be able to qualify within that envelope. Which meant there are no surprises, no-one outperforming their car or competition - only losing ground to the competition.
Qualifying
It was surprisingly dry for the start of Q1, especially considering there was supposed to be a tropical storm in the area - unless it is heading to Japan in preparation for next weekend, be cause we need a lot of preparation to actually arrange some rainfall in 2013. The first to venture out onto this warm and dry monsoon free Korean GP circuit was Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez - the Mexican who has finally not being useless set an initial benchmark time. That lead only lasted a couple of minutes before Rosberg took over that lead position in the Mercedes, followed by Button and Hamilton. Nico held onto the top spot for a while... until Hamilton found some more pace and went 0.8s faster then his team-mate.
But it was Gutierrez who peaked interest when he put the softer tyres on and found 1.3s - this concerned several teams because that meant fewer positions were safe from relegation and therefore there was wave of cars moving onto the faster tyres. Hulkenberg was able to put his Sauber fastest, and times started to tumble all over the place at one point Massa had fallen down into the relegation zone along with Maldonado. Unlike Pastor, Massa was able to improve his position which dropped Bottas into relegation and placing Di Resta perilously close to being relegated. As Di Resta tried to move further into safety he came across Bianchi who was powering up for a fast lap - because the Force India was faster than the Marussia - he got held up. Bianchi was then penalised three places... which should he make him 24th on a 22 car grid. Also it also suggests that merely having a slower car is a punishable offence...
With the new teams and Williams relegated, it was time for Q2, although no-one seemed to inform the grid, because the track remained empty for a while until Ricciardo finally broke through the wall of silence. Of the initial batch of drivers, it was Fernando Alonso who took an initial lead - perhaps the only time he'd be able to say he was ahead of Vettel for a long time. Throughout the session it was a case of drivers gently swapping places with each other - except for Hamilton who was once more stepping out to an early lead. Yet over the course of the next few minutes that advantage was reeled in to only a couple of tenths, but nothing exciting was going on, everything was too methodical and systematic.
Down in the relegation zone, things were not as frantic as they normally are, Force India were no where near making the top ten and Toro Rosso were also uncharacteristically off the pace compared they traditional Korean form. With four cars out of contention already, it came down to the battle between McLaren and Sauber - and it was the latter who came out on top. Button tried to deflect blame onto being fractionally held up by Raikkonen but the fact that both McLarens were 0.003s apart on time suggests that the team as a whole are off the pace. Hulkenberg put his car into 4th demonstrating that the form was not a fluke in Monza. Yet at the front Vettel was on top once more...
Only Q3 to go and for the first run, only half of the drivers took to the track - at this point there was the threat of penalty points was looming over those in the garages. For a moment Webber was on pole with what initially seemed like a strong lap - which would be ultimate damage limitation considering he does have that 10-place penalty hanging over him. But then there was Vettel half a lap behind them all going a lot quicker and inevitably took pole position.
Then things got a little weird, because traditionally the second runs see an improvement in times, but out of the 10 drivers on track only Hamilton made an improvement - and that was only good enough for second. The cars in the second batch - Ferrari, Sauber and Raikkonen just joined the end of the standings in that order. With Webber's penalty the top grid looks remarkably similar to Singapore - Vettel, followed by a Mercedes and Grosjean and another Mercedes then the two Ferrari's Massa not leading that particular row. Raikkonen's lack of a pace can't this week be attributed to his back problems... hopefully things will improve once the Finn moves to Ferrari.
The Bonus points championship
10pts - Takuma Sato - Pole position for race one of the Indycar race of Houston
8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - 4th place in Q2 and inside the top ten again
6pts - Esteban Gutierrez - Proving not to be useless again
5pts - Romain Grosjean - Top three once more for the Lotus driver comprehensively beating Kimi
4pts - Lewis Hamilton - Almost stopped Vettel Winning everything
3pts - Valtteri Bottas - Things are bad at Williams but the rookie is still beating Maldonado
2pts - Perez/Button - 0.003s difference now that is consistency
1pt - Dario Franchitti - For avoiding a stalled car by the smallest of margins off the line
The Penalties championship
There is only one penalty to mention - Webber's was added last race when it was initially ordered - but today's goes to Bianchi because his Marussia isn't fast enough for the stewards standards are concerned.
Penalty Points championship
Two additions to the penalty points table following this weekend so far.
- Paul Di Resta - Seriously stop whining
- The Stewards - Having a slower car is not a crime
Looking to Tomorrow
This is one of the first races where I have to rely on the Sky Box to record the event because it is set so early in the morning and it is not one of the races you'd consider staying up for. Korea is often devoid of memorable racing, aside from the initial monsoon ridden debut race. What tomorrow needs is for Hamilton to get ahead of Vettel at the start of the race, like Rosberg tried in Singapore - otherwise Vettel will vanish off into the distance and will never be seen of again.
But there is hope for some intrigue as Webber does have some overtaking to do to recover from the grip drop down in 13th place - attacking the race with a car set up for higher top speed and overtaking potential. The potential for rain in the equation has diminished completely pretty much, as we assumed it would to so I woudn't expect this to be a riveting event full of action and on track racing. This race will be a strategy based event to decide who gets to finish second.
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