Alonso on top after Korean GP victory

Alonso drove superbly to clinch the action packed first ever Korean GP. This win not only means that he is the only driver who has won five races this season but the win has also put him in the driver’s seat for this years Drivers Championship as he moves 11 points clear of Mark Webber who crashed out in Lap 2.

What an exciting GP Korea has played host to in its first ever Grand Prix. It will be remembered as one of the best debut grand prix ever!! The Korean people showed no signs of backing off after the negative publicity it received. Organizers have declared that a whopping 170,000 have attended the three day event with 80,000 spectators witnessing Alonso clinch the race on Sunday at the newly built Yeongam circuit which proved to be a massive success.

There were many concerns when the news came out in the media that the track wont be ready for the race nor the circuit. The accommodation was also a big concern as the track was not near to any major city. The drivers were accommodated in a hotel little far off the track and about 300 miles from Seoul but their technical staff were provided stay at nearby brothels which were the only accommodation left. There were many complaints from the teams regarding poor pit lane conditions and also dirt track area. The entrance to the pit lane was also very tricky and the race track was very slipper on top of it.

The 2 week old track did prove very much tricky in the rainy conditions and it seemed very difficult for many drivers to get adjusted to it and Webber was one of them. The race start was delayed due to heavy rains and when it started it was not all well for championship leader Mark Webber who crashed out in lap 2. The heavy rains and poor track conditions prompted the race to be stopped after Lap 4. Then after the restart nothing changed much as there was not much improvement in the track conditions and Lap 5 saw the Mercedes GP car of Nico Rosberg crash out.

The asphalt was behaving very badly and safety car was also deployed to make sure there was no further damage. The condition never got better but Alonso and Vettel were battling it out at the top for P1. Hamilton and Massa were also not far behind followed by Schumacher and Kubica.

Again there were more causalities with victims Trulli and Di Grassi retiring in Lap 25 while Buemi and Timo Glock followed them in Lap 30 and Lap 31 respectively. Meanwhile all drivers had pitted and changed to wet weather tyres. With these tyres on and the slippery conditions and also a freshly laid track was proving to be very testing for the drivers. This is where Alonso made his experience count and even though he did not have a car as fast as Red Bulls he managed to be on the neck of Vettel. He managed to cash in on the Red Bull’s relatively poor performance in the Sector 1 as compared to the other two sectors.

As we moved into the Lap 40s the conditions became a little better and it was time for the intermediates to come on and this is where Alonso was a master at and so is Michael Schumacher. Lewis Hamilton has also been treated as a good driver in these conditions and was not far behind in position three. But this all changed after Vettel blew his engine in Lap 45. This is where Alonso took control of the race and then dominated it. Sutil who was looking to score points after a long gap crashed out in lap 46.

The last ten laps were not much eventful and Alonso drove superbly to clinch his fifth win of the season with Massa finishing third. Massa also had a superb race and matched Alonso with his pace but somehow struggled in the end and had to satisfy himself with a third position. Hamilton also drove superbly to finish second while Button struggled ad finished well outside the points at twelfth position.

Schumacher had an excellent weekend and the Mercedes GP team were very much happy for his fourth place who struggled in his comeback season. Force India had a nice consolation in the form of Liuzzi who came sixth behind Robert Kubica.

While Barrichello, Kobayashi who was hit from behind by Sutil, Heidfeld and Hulkenberg rounded off the top ten.

So this sets up an exciting end to the Formula one season of 2010 with only two races remaining – the next one at Brazil and the last one being at Abu Dhabi. So get ready for one hell of a finish this season. Cya in ten days with the Brazilian GP!!

The final results are as follows (pics and results courtesy BBC)