What could happen in South Korea?
Certainly we shall give a Play F1 Manager t-shirt for the race in Asia to the most inspired readers. See what you must do for this, at the end of the article.
On the circuit in Korea the pilots shall run during the Sunday race 55 laps of 5615m/lap, and the lap from the beginning of the race shall be timed with approximately 1’44 under dry circuit conditions and the total distance of the race will amount to 308,630km.
Maximum acceleration: on 61% from the length of the circuit.
Number of gear changes in one lap: 54.
Fuel used per lap: 2,8kg.
Aerodynamic down force: maximum.
Time spent at the pit stop for a tire change: 24 seconds.
Fastest lap in a race: 1’39.605 Sebastian Vettel 2010.
Fastest lap in general: 1’35.585 Sebastian Vettel 2011.
Maximum speed: 320km/hour Sebastian Buemi 2011.
The most classifications on the first position (pole position) of the grid: 1 Vettel, Hamilton, Webber.
The most victories: two out of three Sebastian Vettel.
Available tires: medium and supersoft.
What could it be?
Except for the absolute domination of the Red Bull team and probably of Sebastian Vettel no one dares to say otherwise.
But we are trying to see the advantages of each team individually and we start with the favorites from Red Bull whose car will behave very well and naturally on the Asian circuit which has a high aerodynamic down force. Webber has defeated Vettel last year during the qualifications and it is not excluded that he will do it now, but during the race things may change.
Also, the Mercedes team has an advantage, they are not bad in turns and additionally they have a higher speed on the straight lines present in Korea and which are missing from the circuit of the previous race in Singapore. On a dry circuit we once again give credit to Rosberg to defeat his more titled colleague. Both during the qualifications and during the race. We give credit the German team with a place on the podium.
Ferrari could be a little better during these qualification than they have been in the Singapore race, because they too have speed on the straight lines, but it is hard to believe that they will make it beyond the 3rd line of the start grid. Again, Felipe might defeat Fernando in qualifications but not during the race where the Spaniard has all the reasons to make a new good race. The circuit is not so demanding on the brakes, a deficient chapter for the Italian team, this could also be a new advantage for them.
It will also be very interesting to follow the fight between Raikkonen and Grosjean, the latter being the one having the lead during qualifications for the last races (3 out of 4). Kimi showed in Singapore that he is willing to fight to the end even if next year he will be wearing the red suit from Ferrari and he seems motivated not to give up the 3rd place in the championship. Both drivers have a good chance of making an excellent race in Korea where the possibility for the intervention of the safety car is not minimal, which shall help the Lotus team, which are very good at managing tires and so they have a larger window for action, during which they can change their strategy on the go.
McLaren can make a new good race and when we say good we think of a place somewhere among the first 7 for one of the two pilots and we consider Jenson Button but also Perez who demonstrated that at least during races he can get close to his teammate.
We are sincerely sorry for the Force India team which lost contact with the McLaren team as a result of tire change, operated by Pirelli after the Silverstone race. Di Resta has not finished the last 4 races and Sutil has defeated him in qualifications during the last races and we think this latest situation will be maintained.
But we are happy for the Sauber team which made some progress during the last period, now when all the teams in the platoon are working only for the 2014 season, we can see this also in their results. It is true that their progress is mainly due to changing the Pirelli tires.
Toro Rosso can be there and nowhere. They can complicate the situation during qualifications, but is hard to believe that they will make something notable during the race.
Caterham is further and further away from the Marussia team but in their turn, they are very far from the Williams team, where Pat Symonds has not performed miracles during the last month since he joined the team, which is natural after all.
Qualifications first 5 (not their order): Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel, Webber, Grosjean.
Race first 5 (not their order): Rosberg, Webber, Alonso, Grosjean, Vettel or Raikkonen.
For those who give the correct prognosis before the start of the qualifications on Saturday for the first two positions of the qualifications and the first 3 from the Korean race, Play F1 Manager will offer them a Play F1 t-shirt, a t-shirt with an exceptional design, which you can see here.