Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button led the way in Practice Two for the Korean Grand Prix.
Hamilton and Button lead the way at Yeongam
McLaren were undoubtedly the team to beat in the second practice session ahead of the Korea GP, with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button more than 1.7s up on their nearest rival.
The session started on a very wet Yeongam circuit, and although the track began to dry out conditions remained difficult for the drivers as the surface was extremely slippery.
Hamilton made the best of the track conditions, crossing the line with a 1:50.828 to edge his team-mate Button by 0.104s. But it was McLaren's gap to their rivals that caught the eye.
Newly-crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel may have finished up in third place, however, he was 1.818s slower than Hamilton while Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was a further 0.128s off the pace.
Despite the conditions there wasn't any major drama except for Nico Rosberg's incident. The German got his braking wrong into Turn 1, went wide through the corner and collected Jaime Alguersuari as the STR driver left the pits.
Although there were heavy clouds overhead, it was not raining as Practice Two got underway in Korea. Alguersuari led the field out with several drivers practicing starts at the end of the pit lane. The Toro Rosso driver also posted the first time, a 2:00.067.
Pastor Maldonado and Vitaly Petrov each had a turn in the P1 slot before Vettel hit the front followed by Sebastien Buemi, then Button and Vettel again. Button hit the front again then Lewis Hamilton before Button returning to the P1 slot with three fastest sector times and a 1:51.798.
Michael Schumacher, who topped the rain-hit Practice One, ventured out after a gearbox change and took 11th place before heading back in. Felipe Massa joined the list of those running wide at Turn 11 but, like those before him, no damage as it is a large run-off area.
Hamilton hit the front and then lowered the benchmark time as he stayed ahead of Button, Vettel, Mark Webber, Alonso and Buemi. A strong run saw Alguersuari slot into fourth place while Massa made it into the top ten. With absolutely no rain and almost no spray coming up from behind the cars, Webber improved to fourth place and then ran off the track on his next lap. Alonso returned to the action, taking fifth and then third. However, he was 1.946s behind pace-setter Hamilton. Vettel overhauled the Ferrari driver, 0.039s up.
Rosberg, getting his braking all wrong, went sliding wide through the first corner and hit Alguersuari side on as the Toro Rosso driver left the pits. Rosberg, with a damaged front wing lodged under his car, pulled over on the side of the track. Game over.
Hamilton ventured out with 20 minutes left in the session, putting on another set of intermediate tyres. Hamilton and his rivals, though, were not able to improve their times as the track, while drying out, was greasy underfoot. There were several spinners during this period with Alonso, Bruno Senna, Buemi and Massa all having a turn.
There were a few tentative trips around the track as some, such as Alonso, Webber and Hamilton, opted for a slick tyre run. None of them, though, stayed out for more than a lap or two as it was too tricky. The session ended with Hamilton in front with a 1:50.828 and Button second, just 0.104s behind. Vettel was third, a massive 1.818s off the pace.
Practice Two: 1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:50.828, 2 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:50.932, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:52.646, 4 Fernando Alonso (Spn) Ferrari 1:52.774, 5 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:53.049, 6 Jaime Alguersuari (Spn) Toro Rosso 1:53.402, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:53.707, 8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:53.914, 9 Sebastien Buemi (Sui) Toro Rosso 1:53.948, 10 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:53.957, 11 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Lotus-Renault 1:54.200, 12 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:54.392, 13 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams F1 1:54.831, 14 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:54.965, 15 Bruno Senna (Bra) Lotus-Renault 1:55.187, 16 Sergio Perez (Mex) Sauber 1:55.203, 17 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber 1:55.544, 18 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams F1 1:56.067, 19 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 1:56.669, 20 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus 1:57.173, 21 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:58.269, 22 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 1:59.458, 23 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Hispania 1:59.958, 24 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Hispania 2:00.165
