Alonso wins first Korean GP and takes the championship lead

Fernando Alonso took the championship lead in the first F1 race in Korea on this day in 2010 after Sebastian Vettel retired with an engine failure and Mark Webber crashed in very difficult conditions.

After Japanese GP in Suzuka, where Vettel celebrated in front of Webber and Alonso, the championship was quite open because Webber had 220 points and Alonso and Vettel had 206 points each.

A new race in the F1 calendar was held in South Korea, more precisely in the suburbs of Yeongam, with combination of slow speed corners, very long straight and challenging last few corners surrounded with walls.

The qualifying session was held in dry conditions and Vettel won another pole position, ninth in the season, 0.074 seconds ahead of Webber and 0.181 seconds ahead of Alonso. Interestingly, Vettel converted only three poles in 2010 to victories (Valencia, Japan and Abu Dhabi).

The race was held in rainy conditions with very low visibility and started behind the safety car and stopped after three laps due to too much standing water on the track.

After a 45-minute break the race continued and the safety car pulled into the pitlane after  13 laps. Vettel kept the lead ahead of Webber and Alonso, but the safety car had to go back on track after the collision between Webber and Rosberg in the lap 19.

Vettel continued to lead, but Alonso lost position to Hamilton for slower pitstop during the third safety car period. But after the safety car pulled out in the pits once again, Hamilton went wide in the first corner and allowed Alonso to retake the lead.

The key moment of the race occurred in the lap 45 when Vettel had an engine failure and gave the lead to Alonso who eventually celebrated in front of Hamilton and Massa. Due to the numerous breaks and delays, the race ended in the dusk and in very bad visibility.

Alonso took the championship lead with 231 points, Webber had 220 points, Hamilton 210 and Vettel 206. Red Bull continued to lead the constructors’ championship with 426 points, ahead of McLaren (399) and Ferrari (374).

“It’s a great feeling to win this way because the conditions were very difficult, especially at the start,” said Alonso.

“It was  worrying because I knew it would be a success to stay on the track. We had never drove in the rain here and we did not have any reference point. Webber’s retirement changed slightly our approach because podium would be enough without taking too much risk. “

“The last laps were difficult because the track was almost dry and the tyres were quickly going away. I witnessed both Red Bull problems from very close up: in these situations you have to stay super-concetrated because you’re coming from a high speed corner and you have no time to think.”

“It’s clear that this helps our chances for the title, but luck proves that Formula 1 is not just about maths!  If you then think what happened in races such as Valencia and Silverstone, you can say that what goes around comes around. Now there are still 50 points up for grabs, Red Bull are still favorite, but we will continue to target the podium.”

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