Last weekend (at least that was when I started writing this post, now its several weeks after the even and we've learned that Vettel has won the Drivers Championship) was the inaugural Korean Grand Prix. Having a chance to see an Formula 1 race live was just too good to pass up. Surprisingly those in charge of bringing F1 to Korea chose to build the track on a peninsula on the south west coast of Korea, rather than in the north near the heavily populated and much more developed Seoul region. It worked well for me though as the race was now going to take place a mere 150 kms from my home. There would never be a better opportunity to see the F1.
The race itself had been besieged over the past several months due to construction delays. They had decided to build the track on a swamp, which required that they wait nearly a year for the land to drain before construction could begin. Then in the months leading up to the race the construction crews were beset by 53 straight days of rain which delayed construction to the point that the track only got final F1 approval 13 days prior to the green light and racing. The normal time frame for such an inspection was 3 months. So going in we knew that there were going to be some hiccups, but having lived in Korea for more than two years, one gets used to such things. The important thing was being able to see the race.
The track having been built in a somewhat isolated part of Yeongam (near Mokpo), the race organizers made shuttle bus services available to bring people to and from the track. Our group waited at one such location which was to be serviced by a shuttle bus every ten or so minutes. After waiting for more than a half hour we were told that the shuttle service had been discontinued. So we started to walk.
It would have been about 10-12 km walk and there was no time to waste as qualifying was only an hour away. Luckily the generosity of Koreans came to the fore once again, as people who were driving to the track stopped picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. It would have taken us forever to reach the track on foot.
The roar of the engines racing by was amazing. It was a sound you could feel. It was exhilarating.
Unfortunately, after that things were rather underwhelming. The stands that we had tickets for weren't finished so people were being packed into different seating areas. All the walkways around the track were dirt and gravel so when it rained everything became a mud pit.
When race day came we were told that our stands still weren't completed and that we would have a choice of where we could sit as a result. Fortunately this setback worked in our favor as we were able to get great seats that would allow us to see nearly half the track.
There were a lot of things wrong with the track and the organization. I will not dispute that but I had a great time.
I went into the weekend wanting to see an F1 race and that is exactly what I got to see. It would be easy to focus on all the things that went wrong, but in reality what went right simply overshadows all of that.
I can't wait for my next chance to see an F1 race live.
