Axis would like to congratulate Jeep...

... on its Formula One debut.

2012 Korean GP Mega Gallery

That's pretty much the 2012 Korean GP in a nutshell.  A boring race on a wretched track.    Vettel won the race when Webber "Mysteriously" could not get off the line again.  A pointless yellow flag in the only real overtaking spot on the track, kept out for six laps sealed the deal.  Yawn.

But the photo pros did a good job,  enjoy this gallery or press photos and feel free to gover to our flickr and download enormous versions of them!

2012 Korean GP Qualifying

"Why did you not tell me about Massa" that radio call from Vettel to his pit wall was one of the more ridiculous driver excuses I have ever heard. Is Seb that nervous about the prospect of having to pass his own Red Bull mate in Korea?

The track in Korea is a maze of concrete walls built on a swamp, it's an abomination where passing will be in the pits or in the DRS zone but the race tomorrow has potential for greatness.

Starting on pole is crucial on this very psychotic track and Webber obviously not read the script and managed to get his first pole of the season (discounting Monaco).
Red Bull might hope Webber has yet another crap start, not a great strategy. Or they get Webber to let Vettel through on the first lap, another bad option since for sure Alonso and Hamilton will be going for the same hole.

Yeongam has long straight and Ferrari is trimmed for a higher top speed than Red Bull, something that might prove crucial on Sunday. Vettel will have Webber Alonso marking him and Hamilton likely to attack like crazy along with Massa, still without a contract in his pocket and Raikkonen who needs a good result to stay in the leaders group.

Pace, especially in race trim is much closer than in Japan and much will depend on tire strategy though I would doubt top guys would risk a one stopper.

Pass the popcorn!

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time            Gap   
 1.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m37.242s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m37.316s  + 0.074
 3.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m37.469s  + 0.227
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.534s  + 0.292
 5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m37.625s  + 0.383
 6.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m37.884s  + 0.642
 7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.934s  + 0.692
 8.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m38.266s  + 1.024
 9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m38.361s  + 1.119
10.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m38.513s  + 1.271
 Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.436s                                   Gap **
11.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m38.441s  + 0.674
12.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.460s  + 0.693
13.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.594s  + 0.827
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m38.643s  + 0.876
15.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m38.725s  + 0.958
16.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.084s  + 1.317
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.340s  + 1.573
Q1 cut-off time: 1m39.180s                                    Gap *
18.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m39.443s  + 1.235
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m40.207s  + 1.999
20.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m40.333s  + 2.125
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.317s  + 3.109
22.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.371s  + 3.163
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.881s  + 4.673
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         no time

107% time: 1m45.082s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

A Coanda Quickie

At the  beginning of the year  we had identified for you "Coanda Effect" as one of the buzzwords of this 2012 season.

It's in the news again because both Mercedes and, in Korea, Lotus have deployed "Coanda Effect" exhausts and during the SpeedTV (The now ex-US racing channel) broadcast of Friday practice, Steve Matchett mentioned the famous video with the spoon and the faucet....



Of course since the Coanda effect has been used in aircraft wing design for the last hundred years or so, it is nothing new to Formula 1 but the reason it's "in the news" this year is because it is being used to cheat  get around regulations put in place to limit the effectiveness of  "blown" diffusers.

There were put in place for 2012, strict parameters for the shape, dimension and orientation of exhausts, all aimed at diverting the hot gas flow from the rear bottom of the car.   Teams have all followed the letter of the law with the pipe but  negated the intention of the rule with the bodywork which is used, exploiting the Coanda Effect, to bend hot exhaust flow to where it can energize the diffuser.

Now if there only was a good video illustrating how they are using air curtains to crate diffuser skirts...

2011 Korean GP

The F1 boys ended up putting on a fairly decent show at times on that wretched, wretched track in Korea. The highlight was certainly that scrap between Webber and Hamilton, good stuff, clean too.

Hamilton drove, dare I say it, a Button-esque race. He saved his tires and was able to keep a traction challenged Webber behind. Well done. He was still sad though, perhaps those voices saying he's pining for Nicole are correct. Maybe he saw the terms of Button's new contract, more likely, he was not happy going backwards from his grid spot again.

Meanwhile, Vettel made a decisive pass on Hamilton and never really looked back. The guy's gunning for Schumacher's single season wins, I'm not betting against him pulling it off, do you?

Back in the Ferrari camp Massa still hasn't figured out Fernando really IS faster than him and wend about "destroying" his race. Alonso destroyed him once he passed him in the pits, it was embarrassing.

And how about Petrov? Between the custom inspector's kid and the legend's nephew, what an embarrassing week end for the Lotus Renault team!

The best news I heard is that the Korean GP is having financial issues. That track is possibly the most miserable on the circuit, I don't think too many would miss it.



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A pole, a pout and a pass

Hamilton got a fantastic pole, first in many months but then was bizarrely morose as he got out of the car and during the post qualifying conference. Massive hissy fit of just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, something's going on in there.

Tomorrow it will be early stops to get rid of the "red" Pirellis and then a race to see who can make their primes last. RBR might try for a 2 stopper.



Meanwhile, Vettel got an inexplicable freebee when stewards decided not to penalize him for cutting the track on his in lap after his first Q3 run. I would have thought you could make the argument that, in a game of seconds and ounces, cutting gave him extra flexibility in the garage. In the big scheme of things it means little but it certainly sets a bizarre precedent.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time           Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.820s
 2.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.042s  + 0.222
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.126s  + 0.306
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.468s  + 0.648
 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.831s  + 1.011
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m36.980s  + 1.160
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m37.754s  + 1.934
 8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m38.124s  + 2.304
 9.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes no time
10.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes no time
Q2 cut-off time: 1m38.254s                                   Gap **
11.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.315s   + 1.789
12.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m38.354s   + 1.828
13.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.508s   + 1.982
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.775s   + 2.249
15.  Bruno Senna           Renault              1m38.791s   + 2.265
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m39.189s   + 2.663
17.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.443s   + 2.917
Q1 cut-off time: 1m39.464s                                    Gap *
18.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m39.538s   + 2.013
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m40.522s   + 2.997
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m41.101s   + 3.576
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m42.091s   + 4.566
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m43.483s   + 5.958
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m43.758s   + 6.233
24.  Daniel Ricciardo      HRT-Cosworth         no time

107% time: 1m44.351s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

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Last Year in Korea

There's not much riding on this year's race but bragging rights and constructor points but last year it was quite a different story and wow, what a difference a year makes, no engine failures so far for Red Bull at all.

Here is last year's write up

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The Korean Wars

Wow, good thing for the track organization and for Formula 1 that it rained, that way nobody saw how dismal a place that circuit is ( at least in its present form) and how if it were dry there would have been zero passing opportunities. It even ended in the dark so nobody saw what kind of shape that swamp was. As it was though, it turned out to be quite and exciting race after all, once they actually got to race, seventeen laps and two safety car starts into the fifty five lap contest.



Key to the race was Alonso's and Ferrari's ability to manage tires while keeping a good pace and reliability. Red Bulls are faster but more fragile and Vettel paid a high price for that in Korea. Webber is probably the luckies driver out there, after a very bad unforced error he finds himself still ahead of Vettel in points and with the team that will, you would think, finally forced to get fully behind him. After watching his off over and over, I keep wondering why he did not lock his wheels to stop rolling across the track, did his brakes totally fail or was it just an "oh crap" moment? Too bad for Rosberg's race being ruined.



Mclaren are in the same boat and Red Bull now with Button having, for whatever reason made a complete mess of his race and being effectively out of the championship running, they need to get fully behind Hamilton for the last two races.
Hamilton will seriously regret his silly mistake on the restart from the second safety car period. He was gifted a second place because of an errant wheel nut in the Ferrari pit stop, a second place he might have easily nursed home, as it turned out, for a win. Instead he blew the very first braking zone after the restart and let Alonso back through. Hamilton also continued to have, along with Mclaren, an issue degrading tires under these conditions, shades of corded tires passed.



Alonso really did not put a wheel wrong all race, he kept the pressure on just enough and in the later stages set a pace Hamilton could not cope with. Brilliant, for a guy who was almost written off after Spa.

Best of all, with two races to go, it's still all quite open at least for the top three. Very cool.



(it's a big file, if it's slow, let it load!)

end of post

Korean GP Qualifying

I'm not sure who exactly is who is "heaping praise" on the Korean circuit, to my eyes it looks like a race in a wasteland, like Valencia with two really long straights added. The Red Bulls are superior on the technical sections 2 and 3 while giving up raw speed to Mclaren and Ferrari in section 1, I get the feeling here will be no passing after turn 1 and that Red Bulls, if they get through the first lap will just run away with it.

If on the other hand Alonso or maybe Hamilton get in front, things might get interesting. Of course it can always rain...

Here are some moments from Practice and qualifying

Hamilton almost crashes again



Turn 16 was re-profiled but still has a weird bump



A full lap onboard with Lewis Hamilton



Last moments of Qualifying

Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:37.123  1:36.074  1:35.585
 2.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:37.373  1:36.039  1:35.659
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:37.144  1:36.287  1:35.766
 4.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:37.113  1:36.197  1:36.062
 5.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:37.708  1:36.791  1:36.535
 6.  Massa          Ferrari                1:37.515  1:36.169  1:36.571
 7.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:38.123  1:37.064  1:36.731
 8.  Kubica         Renault                1:37.703  1:37.179  1:36.824
 9.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:37.980  1:37.077  1:36.950
10.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:38.257  1:37.511  1:36.998
11.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:38.115  1:37.620
12.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:38.429  1:37.643
13.  Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari         1:38.171  1:37.715
14.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:38.572  1:37.783
15.  Petrov         Renault                1:38.174  1:37.799 *
16.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:38.583  1:37.853
17.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:38.621  1:38.594
18.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:38.955
19.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:40.521
20.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:40.748
21.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:41.768
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:42.325
23.  Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth           1:42.444
24.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:43.283

* Drops five places for Japan penalty

All Timing Unofficial

Home

Dusty, Bumpy Korea

Looks to me like Valencia...minus the city. Weird.

Free Practice 2 results:

Pos  Driver         Team                     Time              Laps
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault        1:37.942            23
 2.  Alonso         Ferrari                 1:38.132  + 0.190   30
 3.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes        1:38.279  + 0.337   29
 4.  Kubica         Renault                 1:38.718  + 0.776   29
 5.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1:38.726  + 0.784   19
 6.  Massa          Ferrari                 1:38.820  + 0.878   32
 7.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault        1:39.204  + 1.262   22
 8.  Petrov         Renault                 1:39.267  + 1.325   28
 9.  Rosberg        Mercedes                1:39.268  + 1.326   29
10.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari          1:39.564  + 1.622   26
11.  Heidfeld       Sauber-Ferrari          1:39.588  + 1.646   25
12.  Schumacher     Mercedes                1:39.598  + 1.656   26
13.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth       1:39.812  + 1.870   35
14.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes    1:39.881  + 1.939   27
15.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1:39.971  + 2.029   22
16.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth       1:40.478  + 2.536   30
17.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:40.578  + 2.636   29
18.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:40.896  + 2.954   32
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth          1:42.773  + 4.831   29
20.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth          1:42.801  + 4.859   19
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth         1:43.115  + 5.173   26
22.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth         1:44.039  + 6.097   29
23.  Yamamoto       HRT-Cosworth            1:45.166  + 7.224   19
24.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth            1:46.649  + 8.707    3

All Timing Unofficial

end of post