auto new edition: October 2010

Lucky to be first

Fernando Alonso finished dramatic Korean Grand Prix on first place. I don`t know how much morning event (by Europian time) can be qualified as a Grand Prix race. From the beginning with start delay, start under safety car, lot of water on the track, Yongam race was struggle to stay on track and get to the finish line. Disastrous day for Red Bull, Mark Webber crash out of second and Sebastian Vettel had an engine failure while leading.

Lewis Hamilton made the most of Red Bull's misfortune to boost his title hopes with a second place finish ahead of Felipe Massa and Michael Schumacher. It means that Alonso now leads the drivers' standings from Webber by 11 points and Hamilton by 21 points, with Vettel dropping to fourth.

Happy Alonso say that this was best race ever for him: " I think that was one of the best races of the year for us and the team, both cars on the podium is a fantastic achievement for Ferrari. We're been competitive all weekend. Qualifying yesterday we saw a very strong car so we knew the race pace was there but with the weather conditions you never know. This morning was wet and we knew that it was a tricky race to finish and of course winning the race, I think my first wet race, means I'm even more happy."

Hamilton atypically calm: "Today we picked up some good points. It could have been better but if you look at the last four races we didn't pick up such good points. We have to make some improvements to the car as the qualifying pace is not good enough. We have some good things coming so it's not impossible. We will keep pushing and as you saw today anything can happen, we didn't expect two Red Bulls to go out but that is how close this championship is. Fernando is quick but it is still open."

Vettel not giving up on title: "There has been a little bit too much of it for us this season. Ups and down, everyone has had those, but I think we have had quite a lot in particular, but you can't change it. So we will keep our head down and keep doing what we were doing up to now. Just trying to get the best out of the car and I think in terms of speed there is nothing to improve. To be on top of the field all the time, controlling the race and looking after my tyres, I think there is nothing that we could have done better. So all in all I think we did a more or less perfect job."

Mark Webber say that title hunt is not finished: "Positions are not really important at the moment, the points are the important thing. They can change very quickly and this is my second non-finish of the year, but there are still two races to go and I will do my absolute best. Today isn't my day. I got a wheel on the kerb on the exit of Turn 12 and it was a very slow motion moment off the back of it. Totally my mistake. It was a very long slide, frustrating. I thought I had done enough but in the end it wasn't enough. The wall obviously was close and did some damage and then I wrecked Nico's race as well. It brings me back to them on points and we are all back together again so we go to the final two races."

KOREAN GRAND PRIX, YEONGHAM, SOUTH KOREA;
71 laps; 305.909km;Weather: rain.


Classified:
P.  DRIVER         ТEAM                         TIME
1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    2h48:20.810
2.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    14.999
3.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    30.868
4.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    39.688
5.  Kubica        Renault                    +    47.734
6.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +    53.571
7.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +  1:09.257
8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:17.889
9.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:20.107
10. Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +  1:20.851
11. Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:24.146
12. Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:29.939
13. Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth             +     1 lap
14. Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
15. Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps

Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso, 1:50.257

Not Classified:
Driver          Team                     On Lap
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         63
Vettel        Red Bull-Renault             62
Petrov        Renault                      56
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              48
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           47
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              42
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               42
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             35
Rosberg       Mercedes                     35


After 17 race:
Drivers:                    Constructors:
1.  Alonso       231        1.  Red Bull-Renault          426
2.  Webber       220        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          399
3.  Hamilton     210        3.  Ferrari                   374
4.  Vettel       206        4.  Mercedes                  188
5.  Button       189        5.  Renault                   143
6.  Massa        143        6.  Force India-Mercedes       68
7.  Kubica       124        7.  Williams-Cosworth          65
8.  Rosberg      122        8.  Sauber-Ferrari             43
9.  Schumacher    66        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         11
10. Barrichello   47
11. Sutil         47
12. Kobayashi     31
13. Liuzzi        21
14. Petrov        19
15. Hulkenberg    18
16. Buemi          8
17. De la Rosa     6
18. Heidfeld       6
19. Alguersuari    3