Vettel takes part in a press conference at the Nissan Global Headquarters in Yokohama after collecting his second F1 title last weekend in Suzuka - Photo Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images
He may have picked up the 2011 title last weekend in Japan, but Sebastian Vettel has already suspended the celebrations to focus on the Korean Grand Prix, which takes place this Sunday.
Vettel was leading the the inaugural race in Yeongam last season before an engine failure brought his afternoon to an end.
“It's been a great few days – but now I am fully focused on the next race in Korea,” said the double world champion. “The circuit is very demanding and quite tight, especially at the pit lane entry. You actually drive almost blind along the wall and, if the car in front of you drives into the pit, you have to quickly get out of the way. The track is pretty slippery at the start and gets better by the end of practice.
“The track in Korea is effectively made up of three parts. The first reminds me of Turkey; the second stretch has long straights like Monza and the third has tight corners like a town track. It is as if they have taken corners from Monte Carlo or Istanbul. It's important to find a rhythm. I find corner 11, which has two apexes, the most interesting.”
Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber had a pretty torrid time in Korea last season, crashing out on almost the first racing lap of the extremely wet race. However, the Australian is keen to returning to the circuit.
“I'm looking forward to racing again this weekend,” he said. “Korea is a track that I like driving on – the last two sectors are very busy with lots of corners and I'm also expecting the racing to be pretty exciting on the long straights too. The DRS is allowed for the second part of the long straight and should help with overtaking in the race.
“As always, we need to see how the tyres perform on race day, which will have a large bearing on the results. I'm looking forward to being right in the mix for the win. It's the second year we will go to Korea and it will be interesting to see if the track surface has changed over the winter at all.”
