5 Things You Didn't Know About The Korean Grand Prix

Image source: Caterham F1 Team

Formula 1 moves from the buzzing city-state of Singapore to the rural Korean countryside this weekend for round 14 of the 2013 season.

The Korean Grand Prix is a relatively new addition to the calendar, making its first debut back in 2010. Want to know more about the race and the $77 million circuit? Here are five things you didn't know:

1. The track was built in swampland

Image source: Lotus F1 Team

The Korea International Circuit is currently surrounded by swampland and fields, but it wasn't meant to be that way. Circuit organisers had planned for a city to be built around the track with shops, restaurants, hotels and viewing areas.

However, that dream city failed to materialise. What was intended to be an exciting place to visit has now turned into, basically, a race track plonked in the middle of a bog. It's situated 400 miles from the South Korean capital of Seoul and a fair distance away from the nearest city of Mokpo.

2. The drivers actually like the track

Image source: Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

Whilst the location won't win it any Brownie points, the drivers do surprisingly like the circuit layout. The Hermann Tilke-designed track has three distinct sectors: the first is full of long straights and big stops, the second is jam-packed full of high speed corners and the third has a tight, twisty, street circuit-like feel due to imposing surrounding barriers.

The final sector was actually meant to be temporary; twisting around the planned city streets as discussed. Paul Di Resta branded the Korea International Circuit a "really nice track", Mark Webber is a fan of the circuit's "challenging corners" and Adrian Sutil said it has "a nice flow and some nice corners".

3. The pit lane gets no love

Image source: Sahara Force India F1 Team

The drivers were more than complementary about the track layout, but not about the pit entry and exit. The pit entry is situated around a blind, sweeping bend towards the end of the lap. Drivers pitting need to slow considerably to enter, which leaves them vulnerable from the cars behind. Changes have been made to bring the wall back and improve visibility.

The pit exit is a different story, as it feeds cars directly into the first corner. It wouldn't be such a problem if the cars were making the apex, but if drivers lock up, miss the apex or run wide, a collision becomes more inevitable. Nico Rosberg and Jaime Alguersuari did just that during practice for the 2010 round, sparking concern. This has been changed for 2013 with the pit exit now going around the run-off area of turn one and feeding the cars back on track at the exit of the second corner.

4. The first race was a complete washout

Image source: Getty Images

The inaugural round of the Korean Grand Prix was, quite literally, a washout. The circuit was barely finished in time and torrential rain wreaked havoc. The race started behind the safety car but the red flag came out three laps later. The race restart was delayed by 40 minutes, and 14 laps behind the safety car followed, before the real action got underway.

The combination of a rushed Grand Prix circuit and the soaking wet conditions meant that when Mark Webber crashed on lap 18, taking out Nico Rosberg in the process, his car was coated in mud. It was a very unusual sight to see - we wouldn't have wanted to be the person in charge of cleaning that!

 5. The track favours slip-streamers

Image source: Sahara Force India F1 Team

The Korea International Circuit's first sector is largely made up of long straights, one of which is the second longest on the Formula 1 calendar.

The back straight leading to turn three comes in at a staggering 1,160 metres long, just 10 metres shy of the longest on the calendar at Shanghai's International Circuit. It's 20 metres longer than the back straight at Abu Dhabi's glamorous Yas Marina circuit and helps set up the best overtaking place on the Korean circuit, particularly with the additional boost of DRS.

Image source: Getty Images

With Vettel taking the race victory last time out in Singapore, his fourth consecutive title looks like it's in the bag. His rivals will be hoping that his Red Bull RB9 suffers some reliability issues over the race weekend, but if not, we could witness yet another Vettel victory in Korea.