Lotus Racing F1 Team Race Report: Korean GP

22nd October saw the inaugural Korean GP took place at the newly-completed Korean International Curcuit. Though the race has already been confirmed at the start of the season, the curcuit itself was only completed on the day before the race. A highly-contested qualifying on Saturday the 23rd saw Red Bull Racing's duo of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber sweeping the front row once again with Scuderia Ferrari's Fernando Alonso a close 3rd. The McLaren Mercedes team drivers, 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton and current world champion Jenson Button started their race from 4th and 7th respectively while Lotus Racing F1 Team qualified 20th (Jarno Trulli) and 21th (Heikki Kovalainen). Race day on Sunday got off to a wet affair. Heavy rain delayed the start by 10 minutes, and when the green lights went off drivers have to start behind the Safety Car. Due to bad isibility and traction reasons, the race was suspended after drivers lapped the curcuit for 4 times. The race was restarted when the rain has subsided after 45 minutes, again behind the Safety Car for traction reason. When the Safety Car came in at the end of lap 16, the Red Bull duo began building a good lead between them and Alonso. On lap 18, the unthinkable happened to then championship leader Webber. He spun when he hit a wet kerb and taking out Mercedes Petronas GP's Nico Rosberg in the process. He has since taken the blame of the crash and apologised to Rosberg. The incident brought out the Safety Car once again, during which many drivers quickly dived into the pit lane for fresh tyres. When the Safety Car period was over, Vettel speared off into the horizon and build a healthy lead over now 2nd placed Alonso. But luck was not on Vettel's side that day, as his car's engine blew 9 laps from the end. That gifted Alonso the lead, who ran a faultless race the whole time and took the chequered flag almost 15 seconds ahead of Hamilton. Button, who desperately needs a good result to remain in contention for this year championship, ended his race in a lowly 12th place and out of the points zone due to a botched race strategy. Towards the end of the race visibility became another problem when the sky was getting dark as the night came. Alonso now leads the championship table with 231 points ahead of Webber, who slipped to second with 220 points and Hamilton in 3rd with 210. Button, who is 42 points behind Alonso remains mathematically in contention, but common sense renders him out of the race to defend his title. Lotus Racing meanwhile suffered mixed luck when Trulli stopped his car in the garage on lap 18 with yet another hydraulic failure. Kovalainen on the other hand could have finished higher than 13th had he not come in contact with Jaime Alguersuari of Scuderia Toro Rosso and spun on the final 10 laps.