Oct.14 (GMM) Little has changed at Korea’s Yeongam circuit since the calamitous inaugural grand prix a year ago.
Bild newspaper reports the ghastly news that, when some teams opened the fridges in their paddock offices this week, food left over from the 2010 event remained rotting on the shelves.
And Williams revealed that the stickers on the team’s hospitality suite still show Nico Hulkenberg driving for them, while the words ‘Mark Webber’ and ‘Sebastian Vettel’ on the floor of the garage had to be painted over by McLaren.
“It looks as though they locked the gates after the last race and simply unlocked them yesterday,” one source is quoted as saying.
Said Sebastian Vettel, who has won two world championships since last visiting Korea: “It’s funny, thinking about everything that has happened since then.”
Another bone of contention is the circuit’s location in Mokpo, hundreds of kilometres from Seoul and with the drivers all staying in the same five-star Hyundai hotel.
For the less affluent team members and journalists, they are still having to stay in so-called ‘love motels’, while the entire Williams team is staying in Gwangju, an hour from Yeongam.
“Here in the south it’s really a little too quiet,” said Vettel. “I think basically there hasn’t been a lot going on since we left.”
The fact Yeongam still seems barely finished has raised speculation about financial problems for the event.
“It is true that we are struggling in terms of profit because of the high investment and high cost structure,” said chief organiser Park Joon-yung.
