Mourning Mokpo: Why the Korean GP wasn't all bad and will be missed in 2014
Few F1 tears were shed when Korea dropped off next season's calendar, but has the remote Yeongam venue received an overly harsh rap?
Monday 9 December 2013 12:46, UK
Post vaguely contentious op-ed piece to website and retreat to a safe distance: I for one will miss the Korean Grand Prix.
The drivers might not miss being hermetically sealed in the Hyundai Hotel (the area's only five-star accommodation, perched like Dracula's castle on a rock overlooking the circuit) but they'll certainly miss the track itself. The 5.6km KIC is as odd as everything else about the place but that hasn't stopped F1's best singing the praises of its 'long straight/fast bends/fiddly bits at the end' layout. Most important of all, it has produced some great racing: from the rain-hit 2010 race which, with hindsight, put paid to Mark Webber's hopes of ever being World Champion; through Lewis Hamilton's spirited defence of second place from Webber the following year; to Nico Hulkenberg putting Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in their places this season just gone, I don't ever recall not being entertained by a Korean GP. I mean, even a fire truck led this year's race. Having visited both as a fan and to work, the conspicuous lack of a 'circus' was also a boon: what thrives in places like Monaco and Singapore evidently wouldn't be seen dead next to a few paddy fields down at the bottom of the Korean peninsula. Such antipathy has been part of the wider problem, of course, but as far as I was concerned, heading to the back end of beyond was intrinsic to the appeal. It felt like an adventure. It also felt like going back in time - to an F1 that was smaller and without all the extraneous fluff. Credit where credit's due: Korean GP organisers have reacted swiftly to the news that their race will not be on the 2014 calendar by making suitable statements of their determination to find a way back. But seeing as though they've been clinging on by their fingertips almost since day one, to do so now they've finally slipped from the window ledge does seem akin to reversing gravity's pull. Perhaps they could seek inspiration from Montreal - after all, the Canadian Grand Prix fell off the calendar in 2009 only to bounce back the following year. Then again, that city also hosted the 1976 summer Olympic Games, which infamously ran up a debt estimated at approximately US$1.5billion. It was eventually paid off 30 years later. With the Korean GP debt estimated at a measly US$180million by comparison, we can only hope that there's a race in which they can finally succeed. MW Click here to view the Korean GP-less 2014 F1 calendar
