YEOGNAM, South Korea – It’s a long but agreeable train ride from Seoul down to Mokpo, where the Korean Grand Prix takes place at the Yeognam track just outside town. But once at the circuit, you feel a little bit out in the middle of nowhere.
Last year’s race was one of the craziest and most exciting of the season, thanks mostly to torrential rainfall. So, what has changed this time?
That was a question on most people’s minds on this first day at the track. The circuit had been prepared just in time for the race last year. The first thing I looked at as I entered the paddock was to see whether lights had been installed for the walk to the shuttles, or even for the walk to the parking lot. Not that I could see, no.
And what about the track? Few changes there.
“I think generally there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left,” said Sebastian Vettel, the new, and reigning, world champion. “But they obviously made some changes. For instance, at the last corner they moved the wall so it’s a little bit better to see, a bit easier for us.”
Personally, I enjoyed the Toro Rosso team’s race preview, which came in the form – as it usually does – of a comic strip featuring the team’s drivers, Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi. This time it borders on the absurd, like last year’s race:
Toro Rosso F1 TeamThe Toro Rosso team’s race preview for the Korean Grand Prix makes fun of last year’s rain-soaked race.