YEONGAM, South Korea - The Red Bull team has dominated the last two seasons of Formula One racing. But just when it looked as if the team's control of the series had ended - in a year where after 15 races no driver has won more than three and a Ferrari driver leads the standings - Red Bull seemed to perhaps be returning to its winning ways.
Mark Webber scored pole position Saturday for Red Bull, with his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, the second-fastest. Vettel has won the last two races, the first driver this season to score back-to-back victories.
It's beginning to look as if Red Bull and its drivers have finally got a grip on what makes a car go fast this year, even if there were very few spectators on hand to watch Red Bull at the track on the southern tip of South Korea.
The track is located near the tiny town of Mokpo, which possibly, per city block, has more “love motels†- designed for rental by the hour - and fewer regular hotels than any o ther town in the world. The siting of the race makes it hard to attract average tourists.
Having said that, this morning as I left my love motel - which I am renting for four nights - in search of breakfast, I ended up meeting a Canadian race fan who decided to take advantage of the scheduling of the Japanese and Korean Grand Prix races just one week apart.
He said he had always wanted to come to Asia, and this was a good way to do it. But after attending the race in Japan, where he said there were so many spectators that it felt claustrophobic, here he was amazed to find himself as the only spectator in a grandstand section during Friday's practice sessions.
He said he later watched a replay of the practice session on television and was able to locate his section. The lone spectator on the screen, he realized, had to be him. It made his day.
There were visibly more spectators for Saturday's qualifying session, but whether or not that will make the day - or the weekend - of the Korean organizers is another question. The event has had a certain amount of controversy and financial problems in its three years of existence, as I wrote about in more detail in my race preview.
My other preview story is an interview with Johan de Nysschen, the new leader of the Infiniti car brand, which is a sponsor of the Red Bull team.
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