Organisers of this weekend’s inaugural Korean grand prix have scattered cement dust in places around the new Yeongam layout, as the newly-laid asphalt surface continues to seep oil as it cures.<\/p>\n
But Karun Chandhok – the only man to have completed a lap of the 5.62km layout in a formula one car – insists the circuit will be safe enough to host the race.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think for one second that it will be disastrous,” the Indian driver told the Telegraph.\u00a0 “A lot of the rumours have been inaccurate.”<\/p>\n
In its official event preview, the Italian team Toro Rosso also urged the F1 world not to “panic” as it makes the long trek from Europe to the Jeollanam-do province.<\/p>\n
There are concerns about the incomplete track facilities, food, hotels, access roads, organised crime in the local area and the proximity to the rogue North Korea.<\/p>\n
“Our advice to you is don’t panic and make the most of the experience,” said the team.<\/p>\n
But Swiss driver Sebastien Buemi is hoping the experience is not just enjoyed by F1.<\/p>\n
“The key question will be if the people know enough about formula one to want to attend the race,” said the Swiss.<\/p>\n
One piece of good news from the nearby port city Mokpo, about 400 kilometres south of the capital Seoul, is that three days of mostly dry weather is being forecast.<\/p>\n
But the sport’s travelling circus is still bracing for a difficult event.\u00a0 To start, Williams team manager Dickie Stanford has told his troops to be ready for a seven-hour bus ride from the capital to Yeongam.<\/p>\n
“From a driver’s perspective the most important thing is that the tarmac lasts,” said Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.<\/p>\n
Nico Rosberg also said he hopes “the asphalt holds up”, and reigning world champion Jenson Button admitted he expects “a few unexpected issues” in Korea.<\/p>\n
But 2010 points leader Mark Webber is sanguine.<\/p>\n
“We all have to go there, see the track and get on with the job — it’s the same for everyone,” said the Australian. Organisers of this weekend’s inaugural Korean grand prix have scattered cement dust in places around the new Yeongam layout, as the newly-laid asphalt surface continues to seep oil as it cures. But Karun Chandhok – the only man to have completed a lap of the 5.62km layout in a formula one car – insists the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[2002,5262,5340,742,1282,4,261,1272],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9039,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9038\/revisions\/9039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u00a0\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"