Korea International Circuit

The Korea International Circuit is a 5.62 km (3.49 mile) motorsport circuit located in Yeongam, South Jeolla, South Korea, 400 kilometres south of Seoul and near the port city of Mokpo. It will be the venue for the F1 Korean Grand Prix at a $264 million (250 billion won) deal between Bernie Ecclestone and the Korean F1 promoter Korea Auto Valley Operation (KAVO - a joint venture between M-Bridge Holdings and Jeollanam-do regional government).

History
German designer Hermann Tilke was given the responsibility of the design of the track. It will be part permanent, part temporary. The temporary part will race along the harbour side of the province where spectators from the promenade, hotels and yachts can view the race. Part of the city with possible exhibition facilities, shops, restaurants and cafes will be utilized to be the pit lane during the F1 Grand Prix weekend.

The first Formula One race was held at the track in. The deal is for seven years, with a five-year option after that which would take the race until 2021. The circuit is also set to mark the return of the Korea Super Prix in 2010. The Formula Three event, previous held at the Changwon City Raceway, last raced in 2003.

It was announced on September 2, 2009, that the funding was in place to start construction at the site, and officials are confident the work will be completed in time to hold a Grand Prix in. On December 10, 2009, the organisers of the event announced that they were on schedule, with a plan to finish the circuit on July 5, 2010, though they admitted that their largest problem lay in finding accommodation for all Formula One staff and spectators. The organisers also ruled out the possibility of staging the race at night until they have more knowledge of and experience in running a Grand Prix.

The Korean GP is due to be run on October 24 for the 2010 Formula One season. This event will be the 17th out of 19 events during the 2010 Formula One season after the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit. The race will be on the 2010 calendar unless the completion of the circuit is not up to the FIA's standards. The capacity of the venue will be 135,000 spectators.

In the midst of speculation that the race would be aborted because the circuit would not be completed in time, organisers for the race announced the circuit's opening date to be September 5, 2010.

On September 4, 2010, in an event called ‘Circuit Run 2010’, a Red Bull Racing Formula 1 show car using a V10 version of the current Renault engine, with Karun Chandhok at the wheel, completed 14 laps of the all new Korean Formula One Grand Prix circuit. Four thousand spectators travelled to the new track for the event.

The final track inspection has been delayed multiple times. Originally, the FIA technical delegates were due to inspect the circuit on 28 September 2010 in order to grant permission for F1 races to be held there, however the date was later moved to the 11th October, only 11 days before the first cars are scheduled to start first practice. Following a two-day track inspection, FIA race director Charlie Whiting described the Yeongam circuit as ‘satisfactory’ and announced the mandatory license would be issued through the Korea Automobile Racing Association (KARA).

According to the Chonnam Yeongam Korean Formula One Grand Prix circuit, 88 billion won is needed for the construction cost of the circuit, the amount requested by the scholarship that was used in the 52.8 billion won. However, it is difficult to secure the remaining 35.2 billion won this year, and was reported to be virtually no prospect of government aid to the Formula 1 project by the Korean government.

Hermann Tilke believes that because of the low-grip nature of the Korean track, the inaugural race had the potential to be as exciting as the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix.