It may have been wet and dark when the race finally ended
but that did not dampen the delight in the Ferrari garage, which served as a
stark contrast to the misery at Red Bull.
Sitting first and second in the standings entering the race,
and qualifying first and second, everything looked set for the Red Bull drivers
to stake their claim to the championship, but neither Mark Webber nor Sebastian
Vettel finished the race.
Webber spun out early, while Vettel led from pole position
until 10 laps from the finish when his Renault engine gave way. Red Bull
principal Christain Horner described it as a “cruel day” with “appalling luck.”
The race began behind a safety car but was red flagged after only two laps due
to persistent rain and standing water on the track.
As drivers and teams milled around, and stewards deliberated
about the conditions for 49 minutes, it appeared the Korean GP — which almost
didn’t proceed because of late surfacing of the track — might not go ahead
after all.
Eventually it resumed, approaching 5 p.m. local time (0800
GMT), but the safety car remained out until lap 18 while water was cleared from
the track. The race went the full distance but in doing so it finished in near
darkness, with many drivers saying the driving conditions were the worst they
had encountered in F1.
From the first lap until the last, the race lasted two hours
and 48 minutes, making it among the longest in modern F1 history.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton finished second to keep his slim
title chances alive and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was third.
With two races remaining, Alonso moved to 231 points, ahead
of Webber on 220 and Hamilton on 210. Vettel remained on 206 points and his
championship chances were rendered remote.
“This is the best race of the year for the team (Ferrari),”
Alonso said. “Two cars on the podium and being competitive all weekend. That’s
the first wet race I’ve won, so I’m even more happy.
“Nothing changes (in the championship). It was bad luck for
Mark and Sebastian but anything can happen in the next two races.” The start
was delayed for 10 minutes in the hope that the rain, which was light but
persistent, would clear. The race got under way behind the safety car, but it
quickly became apparent that conditions were undriveable, with pools of water
on the straights.
Alonso said over his radio that “these are the worst conditions
I have ever driven in; it’s completely impossible.” His words were echoed by
McLaren’s Jenson Button, who said “it’s like a lake on the straights. You can’t
even see the front tires.” The red flag emerged and two laps after the belated
re-start, Webber ran wide at a corner, putting his tires on the slippery curb,
and slid across the track into a wall.
The Red Bull drifted back across the track, and Mercedes’
Nico Rosberg could not avoid hitting it, ending the race for both drivers.
“It was a very slow-motion moment off the back of that curb
— it was my mistake and it wasn’t my day,” Webber said.
“Today didn’t help me with the championship but I can
absolutely still win it; this was only my second non-finish of the year.”
Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher finished fourth to match his best result of the
season. Renault’s Robert Kubica was fifth, while Force India’s Vitantonio
Liuzzi came sixth in his season-best performance.
Williams’ Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg were
seventh and tenth respectively, sandwiching the Sauber pair of Kamui Kobayashi
and Nick Heidfeld in eighth and ninth.
Hamilton moved up from fourth to third in the drivers’
standings, with renewed hope of snatching the title should Alonso and Webber
falter in Brazil or Abu Dhabi.
“Its not impossible,” Hamilton said. “We will keep pushing
and keep the pressure on and as you saw today, things can happen.
“Ferrari and Fernando are very quick but it’s not out of
reach.” Button was the first driver to gamble on switching from wet-weather to
intermediate tires, but the timing of his pit stop was poor and he emerged
behind a train of slower cars and ended up near the tail of the field for the
rest of the race, ending his hopes of defending his title.
Alonso had a bad pit stop of his own soon after when he came
into the stop at an angle, and his team struggled to remove a wheelnut. That
enabled Hamilton to move up to second, but the McLaren driver soon gave the
position back by running wide at a corner.
All the while, Vettel looked untouchable in front of the
field until he dramatically slowed on lap 46 of 55, and Alonso went past on the
start-finish straight. Smoke began to billow from the back of the Red Bull, and
the German’s race, and likely his championship hopes, were over.
“It’s not a nice moment,” Vettel said. “To be on top all the
time and controlling the race, there was nothing we could have done better. We
did more or less, a perfect job.” With darkness descending, it appeared certain
the race would be ended by the stewards, but they allowed it to continue.
“It was one of the most tricky conditions I’ve ever had,”
Alonso said. “The last couple of laps it was very dark, on slick tires and a
wet track.”
