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Barrichello Said Korean GP Should Have Been Red-Flagged

A few laps before his engine broke down, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel had told his team via radio that he couldn't see the kerbs at the end of Turn 1 due to poor visibility on track. Shortly after, the FIA stewards asked all race engineers to conduct a brief poll on the topic, after which it decided to let the race continue until the scheduled chequered flag.

Although neither Fernando Alonso nor second placed Lewis Hamilton had any problem with the level of visibility on the track, F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello begged to differ. According to the Williams driver, the race should have been red-flagged a few laps before the finish line due to low visibility.

It was unsafe. Quite curiously, the problem that we had in Fuji in 2007 was aquaplaning. Aquaplaning was not a problem here, it was only visibility,” said Barrichello after the race according to Autosport, reminding everyone about the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix, held in similar conditions.

Due to heavy rain before the start of the race, the FIA officials decided to postpone the start for a later hour. The race started eventually more than one hour late and, due to the multitude of laps spent behind the Safety Car, the projected end was pushed to late afternoon. In fact, the winner's celebration after the race was held in the dark.

You could argue whether the race started a bit too early or not, and luckily the water started to go down. Then everything was running smoothly - but I think the race should have stopped five or six laps before - I couldn't see. I had a clear visor.”

I have a record in Fiorano, because when Fiorano didn't have the time restrictions you could run as long as you wanted. In the summer, I once had 21:36h when I went out, and it was as dark as at the end of the race,” he added.
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