Korean GP: Dramatic race sees double points from Williams

Overnight rain had thrown another factor for the teams to deal with as they prepared for the start of the fifty five lap 2010 Korean Grand Prix. For the AT&T Williams team their drivers would start from tenth and eleventh with Rubens Barrichello leading Nico Hulkenberg. There was concern for those drivers starting from the dirty side of the track but with the rain everyone was now faced with a slippery track. It was now going to be a decision as to whether to use full wets or intermediates at the start of the race. The drivers would try both tyres prior to them taking up their place on the grid. Drivers like Glock, Massa, and Schumacher would have spins as they tested the conditions.

With the rain increasing prior to the start the full wet tyre was looking to be the better option. The race start would be delayed ten minutes and it would be announced that the race will start under the Safety Car. The cars would move away from the grid behind the Safety Car with the race now underway. Vettel was leading from Webber, Alonso, Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Button, Kubica, Schumacher, and Rubens and Nico in tenth and eleventh. The spray coming off the cars was incredible with Button saying that it should be a while before they see the Safety Car leave the track.

The race would be red flagged with comments like the one's from Alonso saying that it was the worst conditions he has ever driven in. The race clock has stopped with 1h:53m08s remaining. The cars would stop on the grid and the mechanics would come back out. There were now concerns as to whether the race would be stopped due to light even if it did restart. It was announced that the race would restart at 4:05PM local time. The drivers would return to their cars and get ready for the restart again under the Safety Car. The engines would restart and the grid would clear. The Safety Car and the field would move away but as the cars went around the track the conditions did not look much better with huge amounts of spray coming off the tyres.

Rubens was told that he could expect light rain for the next twenty five minutes. Schumacher would run wide in the difficult conditions. Webber would say that he felt that the conditions were not any better. He was supported by both Ferrari drivers. Twelve laps of the race had been completed as they continued to run behind the Safety Car. Hamilton was wondering why they had not started racing.

After a considerable period behind the Safety Car the race would finally be given the green light at the end of lap seventeen. Lap eighteen and Vettel would be lading Webber and Alonso while Rosberg had moved up to fourth passing Hamilton at Turn three. Fifth placed Hamilton was followed by Massa, Button, and Schumacher. But on the next lap it would go all wrong for Webber who would spin and hit the barrier before sliding across the track only to be hit by Rosberg. As a result the Safety Car would be sent out again. Vettel was now leading from Alonso and Hamilton. Schumacher was now in sixth followed by Kubica and Nico in eighth. Behind Nico was Rubens and Sutil in the last points scoring places.

Lap twenty four and the Safety Car would come in and by the end of lap Vettel had a 2.1 second lead. Trulli and Senna would collide with the Lotus losing his front wing. Trulli would pit and go straight into his garage for repairs. Lap twenty seven and Schumacher would pass Button for fifth while on the same lap Di Grassi would make contact with the barrier and would retire. By lap twenty eight Vettel's lead was out to 3.5 seconds over Alonso. Trulli had returned to the circuit but would pit again on lap twenty eight to retire. For the Williams team Nico was now running in seventh while Rubens was in ninth. He was been followed by both of the Force India cars. Nico was staring to close in onto Button. On lap twenty nine Button would pit for fresh tyres, joined by Sutil.

Lap twenty nine would see Hamilton set a fastest lap, 1m:53.914, to close in onto Alonso's Ferrari. Vettel was telling his team that he did not feel that the full wets would last the race. After his stop Button was in fifteen while on lap thirty one Nico would pit from eighth taking on the intermediate tyres. Nico would return in tenth but was passed by Petrov who would push him down to eleventh. On the same lap Buemi would crash taking off his front left corner. This again would see the Safety Car come back out seeing Hamilton pit while Vettel and Alonso would continue. Buemi had crashed into the side of Glock's Virgin while trying to take twelfth place. Lap thirty two and now it would be the turn of Vettel and Alonso to pit. It would be a slow stop for Alonso who have a problem with his right front wheel and would drop behind Hamilton when he returned to the track.

Vettel was again leading from Hamilton and Alonso. Massa was fourth, with Schumacher fifth, Rubens sixth, Petrov seventh and Nico eighth. On lap thirty two we had also seen Massa, Schumacher, Kubica, Rubens, and Alguersuari all pit. Lap thirty five and the Safety Car would come in and the race would restart with Vettel leading from Alonso with Hamilton dropping to third at running wide at Turn one. Kovalainen would get a drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Behind Hamilton Massa was putting Hamilton under pressure while Kubica would pass Nico at Turn three for eighth place. But Nico would re-pass the Renault before the end of the lap seeing Nico back in eighth. At the front Vettel, Alonso, and Hamilton continued to fight over the lead with the drivers swapping the fastest lap.

With the light fading the track would start to show a drying line in some places. Hamilton was closing in onto Alonso while on lap forty one Petrov would crash his car heavily at Turn seventeen, near the end of the lap, slamming his car into the tyre barrier damaging both ends of the car. The Safety Car would not be deployed while Hamilton continued to push. Vettel was also complaining about poor visibility in parts of the track as the clock drew closer to dusk. But Vettel would not see the end of the race when his engine would fail seeing both Alonso and Hamilton pass him. Vettel would pull over to retire seeing Red Bull have a double DNF. Massa was now in third with Alonso now leading Hamilton by a second. Sutil would lose control of his car while trying to pass Kobayashi. Sutil would retire with front suspension damage.

Vettel would limp back to his pit while on lap fifty two we would see Nico pit from sixth to take on new intermediate tyres. This would see Kubica move into sixth and Liuzzi seventh. Rubens would also struggle with his tyres in the closing period of the race seeing him lose several places, in particular he would lose sixth to Force India rival Liuzzi. Behind him Nico had been able to close in onto tenth placed Alguersuari after the Torro Rosso driver ran wide. Kubica had now moved up to fifth while at the front Alonso would start his final lap. Alonso was some twelve seconds ahead of Hamilton with Massa third and Schumacher fourth. He would cross the line to take victory in the 2010 Korean Grand Prix. Hamilton would finish in second and Massa third. Schumacher would take a fine fourth for Mercedes, while Kubica was fifth from Liuzzi, Barrichello, Kobayashi, Heidfeld, and Nico in tenth.

The race was one where both Williams drivers came away with points but had it not been for problems with tyres instead of the seventh and tenth place finishes the result could have been a fifth and sixth. Still given the conditions it was still an great result for the team and drivers in a race that saw so many drivers have problems. It was later confirmed that Nico had a puncture that had caused him to pit losing his place and the additional points.

Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      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   AT&T Williams-Cosworth     +  1:09.257
 8.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:17.889
 9.  Heidfeld      Sauber-Ferrari             +  1:20.107
10.  Hulkenberg    AT&T 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: Alonso, 1:50.257

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                       On lap
Sutil         Force India-Mercedes         46
Vettel        Red Bull-Renault             45
Petrov        Renault                      39
Glock         Virgin-Cosworth              31
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           30
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              25
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               25
Webber        Red Bull-Renault             18
Rosberg       Mercedes                     18