.jpg)
It seemed that everything conspired for the Korean Grand Prix to either not happen at all, or to be one of the craziest, most unpredictable and exciting races of the season.
In the end, it was the latter that happened, as the race became one of attrition and two of the five title-contending drivers dropped out, and as Fernando Alonso survived to drive his Ferrari across the finish line in first place and thereby win the race and take the lead in the series.
Lewis Hamilton finished second in his McLaren Mercedes and Felipe Massa finished third in the other Ferrari. Michael Schumacher drove one of his best races of the season to equal his best finish as well, driving his Mercedes to fourth position.
The first 17 laps of the race ran as a procession behind a safety car due to heavy rains, and after a delayed start. When it finally began, the race that many people thought would never happen as the new circuit had only been approved less than two weeks before, delivered suspense, accidents, further safety car periods, and a massive upset in the championship order as Mark Webber crashed out in his Red Bull and dropped from the lead of the championship in the first laps, and then his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, after leading all of the race, dropped out with a blown engine with 10 laps left.
The race finished at 5:58 PM, three hours after its scheduled start at 3 PM local time.