Spaniard Fernando Alonso laughed hysterically on his radio when he crossed the start/finish line of the Yeongam Circuit a winner with no sight of neither Red Bull who did not see the end of it.
The race started with much uncertainty as to how it would develop. After delaying the green flag for 10 minutes with cars spinning to the grid under heavy rain, the safety car led the first few laps.
From boredom to near darkness as Alonso took the chequered flag, much happened, beginning with the forfeit of both Red Bull cars giving the Ferrari driver a new lead in the championship.
It all began with Mark Webber's crash on the slippery track that even turned oily as the newly laid surface saw all laid rubber washed off with continuous rain all through the night. Webber even brought Nico Rosberg along with him! He confirmed after the race that he was the only one to blame for the incident.
Then the last hit for Red Bull: the Renault engine, which had never failed the team before this season, decided it was a good time to become uncooperative.
A valve area failure forced the German out of the race and pushed him further aback in the championship standing where he is now in fourth place, 25 points behind Alonso while his teammate is second, 11 points behind.
The race was classified as "carnage" by various media organisations on Sunday, even though 15 cars made it to the end of the race.
Lewis Hamilton, with a second place finish, took third position in the championship standing, 21 points behind the Ferrari driver. Felipe Massa completed the podium. The other McLaren of Jenson Button was completely out of it with a 12th place finish for the Briton running with the slowest cars on the track.
If Red Bull admitted to being nervous not to throw away the 2010 world championship on Saturday, chances are it will lose sleep on it in the upcoming weeks! As predicted, McLaren (Hamilton) and Ferrari were indeed there to pick up the pieces.
Mind games are on as only two Grand Prix remains, in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Red Bull still owns a 27 points lead over McLaren in the teams’ championship. With the new point system, the winning driver of each race collects 25 points.
Korean Grand Prix Results:
1 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F10) - 55 laps
2 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 14"999
3 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F10) - 30"868
4 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W01) - 39"688
5 - Robert Kubica (Renault R30) - 47"734
6 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 53"571
7 - Rubens Barrichello (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'09"257
8 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'17"889
9 - Nick Heidfeld (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'20"107
10 - Nico Hulkenberg (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'20"851
11 - Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'24"146
12 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'29"939
13 - Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1 lap
14 - Bruno Senna (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 2 laps
15 - Sakon Yamamoto (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 2 laps
Best lap: Fernando Alonso 1'50"257
DNF
18° lap - Mark Webber
18° lap - Nico Rosberg
25° lap - Jarno Trulli
25° lap - Lucas Di Grassi
30° lap - Sebastien Buemi
31° lap - Timo Glock
39° lap - Vitaly Petrov
45° lap - Sebastian Vettel
46° lap - Adrian Sutil
Drivers Championship: 1.Alonso 231; 2.Webber 220; 3.Hamilton 210; 4.Vettel 206; 5.Button 189; 6.Massa 143; 7.Kubica 124; 8.Rosberg 122; 9.Schumacher 66; 10.Sutil, 11.Barrichello 47; 12.Kobayashi 31; 13.Liuzzi 21; 14.Petrov 19; 15.Hulkenberg 18; 16.Buemi 8; 17.De La Rosa, 18.Heidfeld 6; 19.Alguersuari 3.
Teams Championship: 1.Red Bull-Renault 426; 2.McLaren-Mercedes 399; 3.Ferrari 374; 4.Mercedes 188; 5.Renault 143; 6.Force India-Mercedes 68; 7.Williams-Cosworth 65; 8.Sauber-Ferrari 43; 9.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11.
**Unofficial Results**
 |
| Mark Webber's Red Bull (Photo: WRI2) |
The race started with much uncertainty as to how it would develop. After delaying the green flag for 10 minutes with cars spinning to the grid under heavy rain, the safety car led the first few laps.
From boredom to near darkness as Alonso took the chequered flag, much happened, beginning with the forfeit of both Red Bull cars giving the Ferrari driver a new lead in the championship.
 |
| Sebastian Vettel (Photo: WRI2) |
It all began with Mark Webber's crash on the slippery track that even turned oily as the newly laid surface saw all laid rubber washed off with continuous rain all through the night. Webber even brought Nico Rosberg along with him! He confirmed after the race that he was the only one to blame for the incident.
Then the last hit for Red Bull: the Renault engine, which had never failed the team before this season, decided it was a good time to become uncooperative.
A valve area failure forced the German out of the race and pushed him further aback in the championship standing where he is now in fourth place, 25 points behind Alonso while his teammate is second, 11 points behind.
The race was classified as "carnage" by various media organisations on Sunday, even though 15 cars made it to the end of the race.
 |
| Fernando Alonso, winner (Photo: WRI2) |
Lewis Hamilton, with a second place finish, took third position in the championship standing, 21 points behind the Ferrari driver. Felipe Massa completed the podium. The other McLaren of Jenson Button was completely out of it with a 12th place finish for the Briton running with the slowest cars on the track.
If Red Bull admitted to being nervous not to throw away the 2010 world championship on Saturday, chances are it will lose sleep on it in the upcoming weeks! As predicted, McLaren (Hamilton) and Ferrari were indeed there to pick up the pieces.
Mind games are on as only two Grand Prix remains, in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. Red Bull still owns a 27 points lead over McLaren in the teams’ championship. With the new point system, the winning driver of each race collects 25 points.
Korean Grand Prix Results:
1 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F10) - 55 laps
2 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 14"999
3 - Felipe Massa (Ferrari F10) - 30"868
4 - Michael Schumacher (Mercedes MGP W01) - 39"688
5 - Robert Kubica (Renault R30) - 47"734
6 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India VJM03-Mercedes) - 53"571
7 - Rubens Barrichello (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'09"257
8 - Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'17"889
9 - Nick Heidfeld (Sauber C29-Ferrari) - 1'20"107
10 - Nico Hulkenberg (Williams FW32-Cosworth) - 1'20"851
11 - Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso STR5-Ferrari) - 1'24"146
12 - Jenson Button (McLaren MP4/25-Mercedes) - 1'29"939
13 - Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus T127-Cosworth) - 1 lap
14 - Bruno Senna (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 2 laps
15 - Sakon Yamamoto (Hispania F110-Cosworth) - 2 laps
Best lap: Fernando Alonso 1'50"257
DNF
18° lap - Mark Webber
18° lap - Nico Rosberg
25° lap - Jarno Trulli
25° lap - Lucas Di Grassi
30° lap - Sebastien Buemi
31° lap - Timo Glock
39° lap - Vitaly Petrov
45° lap - Sebastian Vettel
46° lap - Adrian Sutil
Drivers Championship: 1.Alonso 231; 2.Webber 220; 3.Hamilton 210; 4.Vettel 206; 5.Button 189; 6.Massa 143; 7.Kubica 124; 8.Rosberg 122; 9.Schumacher 66; 10.Sutil, 11.Barrichello 47; 12.Kobayashi 31; 13.Liuzzi 21; 14.Petrov 19; 15.Hulkenberg 18; 16.Buemi 8; 17.De La Rosa, 18.Heidfeld 6; 19.Alguersuari 3.
Teams Championship: 1.Red Bull-Renault 426; 2.McLaren-Mercedes 399; 3.Ferrari 374; 4.Mercedes 188; 5.Renault 143; 6.Force India-Mercedes 68; 7.Williams-Cosworth 65; 8.Sauber-Ferrari 43; 9.Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11.
**Unofficial Results**