Heidfeld Complains About Worst Conditions Ever in Korea

Nick Heidfeld told the media that the conditions experienced during the recent Korean Grand Prix have been the worst in his racing career. According to the German driver, the FIA race director Charlie Whiting did the only natural, decent thing possible when red-flagging the race early on, as visibility and low grip were reaching impossible levels.

“I think he (Charlie Whiting) had 24 drivers shouting the same thing in his ears!” said Heidfeld, according to Autosport magazine. “I said (also) it was the worst conditions I had ever driven in. And just before he red flagged it, I said they have to red flag it.”

“It was hard from the outside to understand why it was so bad, as when we stopped and got out it looked like a tiny bit of drizzling. But in the car the visibility was zero. The only problem was the visibility because there was a little bit of water. Driving alone it would have been easy to drive,” added the BMW Sauber-Ferrari driver.

Shortly after the race started and the rain stopped, there were a bunch of drivers losing control of their cars on the low-grip Yeongam track. However, this was not an issue related to the Bridgestone tires or the heavy rain, but to the poor draining system put in place by the Korean organizers.

“The problem was the water draining away. The surface was actually okay, it is quick drying, but the water was just not getting off the track. The standing water was not so deep, but the drainage wasn't so good – so there was too much spray,” said Bridgestone's director of motorsport tire development Hirohide Hamashima.

To make things worse, there were several drivers complaining about poor visibility in the late stages of the race – among them we can name Sebastian Vettel, Rubens Barrichello and Vitantonio Liuzzi – as the early postponement of the Korean action pushed the race late in the afternoon.