Over the weekend, sidelined Hispania Racing man, Karun Chandhok, took the Red Bull RB5 to the track at the grand opening of the new Korean Grand Prix circuit at Yeongam in South Jeolia.
There have been many worries over the web that the track may not be finished in time for the first race weekend (in six weeks), but Chandhok’s short run and pictures that he tweeted on Saturday show that the situation may not be a bad as previously feared.
While there were initial thoughts that the asphalt may degrade and break up, it appeared in fairly decent shape during the Red Bull laps; however it will only be when twenty-four Formula 1 cars hit the track in anger that the true strength of the track will be discovered.
Other than that, many of the circuit amenities seem to still need a lot of work, but when brand new tracks are constructed, it is not completely unusual for the track surroundings to be somewhat unfinished when the first events takes place – the 2008 European Grand Prix at Valencia was a very recent case.
As for the layout itself, it’s difficult to tell just how effective it will be based upon Chandhok’s run, although it does look quite intriguing. There are still too many corners though.
Yesterday, the video below of Chandhok’s laps was released.
A couple of comments about the video. The track doesn’t look too bad, much better than I had feared after seeing the photo’s but it must have been hard for Karun to drive a decent lap on it without the track markings and brake point notices etc.
The Red Bull doesn’t sound too healthy, maybe it’s got something to do with the unfinished track surface?
The other interesting thing was the grooved tyres, is that so that they are not seen to be having had an advantage from collected data I wonder.
Interestingly enough, Karun Chandhok tweeted earlier on that he was on inters at the time as the time as there had been shower after the first run – the morning was done on slicks. To be honest, such was the condition of the track, I don’t think there’s anything he could have learned that would be applicable to racing conditions.
You’re right about the lack of track markings – I could barely see the corner. I’ll look for a sim version of the circuit later and see what it’s like for myself.