McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session of the inaugural Korean Grand Prix weekend, as drivers used the opening 90 minutes of running to familiarise themselves with the new layout.
The track surface held up throughout the session and grip levels improved dramatically to allow Hamilton to beat the predicted lap time by over three seconds with a 1:40.887. Robert Kubica was within a tenth off that time in his Renault while Nico Rosberg was 0.265 behind in third.
Click Here to Read More
Formula 1: Korean Grand Prix - First Practice Results
Sebastian Vettel was Hamilton’s closest championship rival with a time of 1:41.371 in fourth, while team-mate Jenson Button and Mark Webber were over a second off the pace. Fernando Alonso was a full three seconds adrift of the McLaren, but with the track set to improve with every lap of running and fuel levels varying, his Ferrari team will not be panicking. ESPN F1
The newly laid track surface proved even dustier and more slippery than expected to begin with, leaving drivers scrabbling for any measure of grip and returning to the pits after their installation laps with tyres covered in a thick coating of dirt.
Championship leader Mark Webber topped the timing charts for 15 minutes in the middle of the session, but was later shuffled back to seventh place behind the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher and ahead of Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld.
Both Williams drivers went well, particularly Nico Hulkenberg who had two spells at the top of the order before slipping to ninth ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello. ITV
Felipe Massa had the quicker Ferrari as the reds focused on their usual Friday morning work rather than chasing fast times, the Brazilian posting 1m 43.054s. Then came Kamui Kobayashi on 1m 43.309s, Adrian Sutil in the lead Force India on 1m 43.602s, Fernando Alonso on 1m 43.928s, Sebastien Buemi on 1m 43.940s, Tonio Liuzzi on 1m 44.887s and Alguersuari on 1m 45.151s.
Virgin were easily the fastest of the new teams as Timo Glock got in an excellent 1m 45.588s lap, comfortably ahead of temporary team mate Jerome d’Ambrosio on 1m 46.613s, Heikki Kovalainen on 1m 47.115s for Lotus, and Sakon Yamamoto in 1m 50.347s in the faster HRT. The Japanese racer’s team mate Bruno Senna went off after lapping his F110 in 1m 50.821s. Jarno Trulli had problems in the second Lotus, taking 24th place with 1m 51.701s.
As expected, there were plenty of off-track moments, starring the likes of Trulli, Yamamoto, Massa and Alonso, Buemi, Senna, Kobayashi, Glock and d’Ambrosio. Only Senna’s car sustained minor damage, however. Formula 1
| 
|