The maiden race of the Korean Grand Prix might get abandon prior to its schedule on October 22-24, 2010. Political tiff off between South and North Korea is seen as the major factor on the cancellation of the first ever Formula One race in Yeongam. With this recent development in the growing tension between the two Koreas, construction of the Korea International Circuit has slowed down and might not be finished before the inaugural Korean Formula One race.
The race circuit was constructed in the South Jeolla region of Korea. It is 400 kilometers away from Seoul, the South Korean capital. It is located in a rural area with plans of developing the site into a high-tech business park, leisure and residential facilities, and other business for F1. The racing teams will have custom-built pits and paddock buildings for their teams' equipment and supports staff. The circuit can hold a seating capacity of 130,000 spectators.
Yeongam's race track is 5.4 km long designed with 18 bend and corners – a combination of both high-speed corners and sharp hairpins ideal for overtaking maneuvers. Race cars can reach a maximum speed of 320 kph and features Asia's longest straight. The race track will run on a counterclockwise direction that will have 55 laps of adrenaline-rush F1 racing. The race will total 305.2 kms once completed.
F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has set aside speculations that the construction of the new Yeongam circuit might not be completed on time.
"If there is war, we won't be there obviously," Ecclestone told reporters in Turkey. According to reliable sources of Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper, construction of the 5.62 kilometer long circuit may have been slowed down by the political situation between North and South Korea.
Progress on the construction of the new Korean circuit is estimated to be at 79% completed. FOTA, an F1 association associated to handling F1 equipment, has confirmed that it is not ready to commission some of its equipment to Korea ahead of the scheduled race if there is no assurance of a race.
In the event that Korea GP will be cancelled, F1 teams will have a month-long break from racing between the Japanese and Brazilian GPs.
Another basis for the rumored cancellation which came up in news wires were most F1 teams have not yet reserved airline tickets and hotel rooms for their support staff. The Brazilian and Abu Dhabi GPs have already received advanced reservations way ahead of the Koran GP.
"This is a clear sign of how serious they are worried about the possibility of cancellation," a well-known Portuguese journalist Lusi Vasconcelos in his news column.
Yung Cho-chung, CEO and president of F1 race organizer KAVO, has dispelled rumors that some F1 personnel and media people will have to stay on cruise ship for the accommodation due to the lack of hotels in the locale. He assured everyone that there are enough hotels and around 16,000 rooms were reserved to accommodate F1 fans, visitors and personnel on the scheduled Korean Gran Prix. He jokingly said to Autosport, "Koreans are happy to stay on cruise ships but don't have the idea whether Western guests are happy with the accommodation."
Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone went to Yeongam to personally supervise the inspection of the circuit's facilities and construction progress. He was happy to know that the construction of the circuit is right on schedule. Yeongam Circuit track designer Herman Tilke denied a reported comment he made that he has some doubts the circuit would be built on schedule.
Yung Cho-chung was very optimistic about the negative comments and fears of others on the cancellation of inaugural Korea GP race on October. He believes that the negative media mileage surrounding the F1 race has helped spark interest around the world. This, according to him, will encourage visiting South Korea and watching its first F1 race.
He also expressed his thoughts that Turkey and Abu Dhabi have the same experience underwent prior to their maiden F1 race. But still the races were very successful and created additional tourists and visitors to their future F1 races.
