F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Korean Grand Prix

2012 Korean Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Fans videos from the Korean Grand Prix reveal new angles on the first-lap carnage but also the lack of development going on at Korea’s F1 track.

Outside the track

It was F1’s third race at Korea and there still seems to be little in the way of development around the circuit, as this video shows.

Gangnam Style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2utjQ_yYDc0

The race promoters did their bit to inject some life into proceedings by riding on the back of Korean rapper PSY’s hit Gangnam Style. Sebastian Vettel seemed rather more eager to go along with it than Mark Webber.

Qualifying

Footage from the beginning of Q1 in the portion of the lap which resembles at street circuit without the city.

Drivers’ parade

The drivers appear for the pre-race parade around the circuit.

The start

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zkwG0l-ZA0

The cars stream away from the grid but Webber doesn’t get away well – he has Vettel and Lewis Hamilton gaining on him as they run to turn one.

Turn one

The cars funnel into turn one and Nico Rosberg is squeezed wide.

Turn three tangle

Kamui Kobayashi hits Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg at turn three.

Lap one at the chicane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dnSmR_sC1c

The cars filter through the turn five/six chicane on the first lap, Felipe Massa passing Kimi Raikkonen and the wounded Sauber of Kobayashi limping by at the tail of the field.

First laps

Footage of the start and opening laps.

Thanks to @Girts for researching this article. If you’re interested in contributing to F1 Fanatic, see here for details on how you can:

Were you at the Korean Grand Prix? Did you capture any videos? Share them here:

2012 Korean Grand Prix

    Browse all 2012 Korean Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    17 comments on “F1 fans’ videos from the 2012 Korean Grand Prix”

    1. Doesn’t have much of an atmosphere…

      1. the atmosphere of an abandoned building site …

      2. Makes Magny-Cours look positively bustling in comparison.

        1. it’s a shame, f1 needs to branch out to new markets etc, but attendance at theses races is very poor probably doesn’t help they are built in the middle of no where!

    2. In the driver’s parade clip, you can see Webber shaking hands with Grosjean: perhaps a public ‘apology accepted’ sign? Anyway, thanks Girts for putting this together.

    3. button shaking hands with everyone!

    4. At the “Lap one at the chicane” video, you can see the medical car using the short way round the chicane. Never knew they do that!

    5. Finally went to the race because I thought it would be the last one.

      The facilities/food service is normal for a public event in Korea, but it surprised me that they went so low rent on everything. I expected some form of hot food at least.

      The lack of development is no surprise. (look at my posts from the previous Korea races) 20 years from now it may be better because they are doing a lot of infrastructure work, but it’s still going to be a shipyard town.

      For a Korean event it was VERY well organized, but that ain’t saying much.

      Met a higher-up in event management at the campsite. He said he was quitting after the race. He couldn’t take it anymore.
      I also had the ‘luck’ of meeting the head of the website and promotion materials for the Korean F1 at the campground. I asked why the English housing link still doesn’t work. He dropped his head in embarrassment (in an unusually contrite manner) and replied in Korean, “We’ve been meaning to get that fixed all year.”
      My wife then jokingly “yelled” at him for not fixing it because she has had to listen to me b*#ch about it since last year’s race!
      I then pointed out a misspelling – Perimmon Tree : Beatiful Resting Place – on a BIG promotional banner behind us, and he just looked down, shook his head, turned around and walked away.

      They’re clueless.

      1. The poor sods trying to make a hopeless event run its course … must be a horrible feeling to step into that full of hope to be part of building up a great event only to come to this point.
        I guess many in Valencia will be feeling alike (although at least they had a banger of a race for it this year).

        Thanks for sharing @chris-yu-rhee, and I hope at least you two had a nice time watching the race (good thing it kept dry, eh!)

    6. As a Korean F1 fan I am a little disappointed how the sport isn’t being very successful to reach out to the general public. Not that they haven’t tried, I just don’t think Korea was well groomed for such a high profile event. Before F1 arrived in Korea, motorsports was a fringe sport for the wealthy and passionate petrol heads, but certainly not for the general public.. It’s like bringing the Cricket WC to the United States or the NFL Super Bowl to Europe. To be honest, I’ll be surprised to see this race continue on like this.

      My biggest criticism lies on the track’s location. Korea doesn’t have a thriving automotive or motorsports culture. So it would be logical to build the track near Seoul to take advantage of what little exists of it. But no, it’s located 5 hours away by car and accommodation options are frankly embarrassingly poor. It takes enormous patience to nurse a sports car over the distance to participate in track day events then drive back the next morning. If this is a pain for a car owner, imagine the problems young students face just to visit as a spectator.

      I was very impressed with Kuala Lumpur’s solution to build their Sepang circuit adjacent to the KL International airport. That’s just perfect for hosting international events and I could genuinely feel a degree of motorsports passion from the general public. By building the circuit next to a major airport, it also bypasses noise issues which I thought was quite clever.

    7. And to build a circuit from the ground up as a street circuit? A marina? Thats just ridiculous.

    8. The lack of development is quite poor I have to admit…but I was puzzled (and still am frankly) as to why they built the circuit in Mokpo and not near Seoul which was the logical choice in my eyes. A Grand Prix is a chance to showcase your country, not just your motorsports passion/history, why not build the track nearer what is meant to be a really vibey and interesting capital city? If it was nearer Seoul I’d bet my bottom dirham that the lack of development at the track wouldn’t get as much publicity as it has.

      The only thing I think we can fairly compare the KIC to is Yas Marina. This is because both are new build Marina type circuits in countries with not a lot of motorsport history. Living in Abu Dhabi heading out to Yas (a 25-ish minute drive from where I live just off the main island or just over 1 hour from Dubai) is a bit of a schlep but I can’t imagine having to drive for 5 hours to get to the track! Yas also has the benefit of being near enough all of the main Abu Dhabi/Dubai attractions to make it worth a visitors while to spend a week in the country. Surely that is the point of hosting a Grand Prix? Also the lack of development on Yas itself (apart from the circuit, Ferrari World and a massive Ikea there is sod all there) is kinda normal for the UAE, but at least when you get to the track it is all well presented. This isn’t the case from what we’ve heard about KIC.

      It is sad that the KIC may well become the blueprint for how not to go about hosting a Grand Prix…because Korea is by all accounts an amazing country.

      1. ” …KIC may well become the blueprint for how not to go about hosting a Grand Prix… ”
        May become? It already was before the first race started.

    9. That Gangnam video just makes me cringe! However, I do feel a little compassion for the Korean’s in that they finally found a smidge of identity for their race and fully exploited it!

      1. That’s a sad thing to say. I’m not Korean. You don’t know anything about Psy (and obviously nothing about Korea) and how hard he has worked over the years. “Kangnam Style” is all about fun. 500,000,000 YouTube hits prove it. Enjoy the fun or change the channel.

    Comments are closed.