Hamilton leads the way in Korea

Practice for the maiden Korean Grand Prix kicked off this morning on the brand-new Yeongam circuit.

As expected, the track was very dirty and slippery at the start and the drivers took it very cautiously as they learnt their way around. Conditions improved steadily though, allowing the drivers to push a bit harder and lower their lap times as the session went on.

Of the five title-contenders, Mark Webber was the only one to lap in the first 45 minutes and he unsurprisingly set the early pace. He had lowered the benchmark to a 1’44’’837 when Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg took over at the front, halfway through the session, with a 1’44’’509.

With 10 laps under his belt, the Championship leader pitted. In the meantime, his rivals joined the fray. Fernando Alonso was the first out and slotted in 10th position, while Sebastian Vettel slotted in 13th position. The German only needed another couple of laps to go fastest with a lap completed in 1’43’’599.

He was joined at the front by Jenson Button. The McLaren driver then massively improved and set a 1’43’’096 to beat the Red Bull driver. With 25 minutes remaining, Button was leading from Vettel, Heidfeld, Hulkenberg and Petrov. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was still to post a time on the board.

Bruno Senna found himself in trouble with just over 20 minutes remaining as he spun at Turn 7 and lost his rear wheel. His HRT spun across the asphalt run-off area and stopped before hitting the barriers. But there was still damage to the left rear suspension.

Once the track cleared, both Williams’ drivers upped the pace and Nico Hulkenberg retook over at the front. Barrichello was 2nd fastest. The German was quickly demoted to second, though, by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg.

Lewis Hamilton finally joined the action in the final 10 minutes and didn’t take too long to make his way up the field. With three minutes left, he was second to his teammate Jenson Button. He then lost one place to Robert Kubica but immediately responded with a 1’40’’887 to go fastest. It was not all said and done and the Renault driver stroke back... but ended a fraction off Hamilton’s time.

Hamilton concluded the session on top, with the Pole hot on his heels. Nico Rosberg was third fastest for Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel was fourth fastest. Jenson Button rounded the top five.

Michael Schumacher set the sixth fastest time. Championship leader Mark Webber was seventh fastest. Heidfeld, Hulkenberg and Barrichello completed the top ten.

Ferrari’s Alonso was down in 15th place, 3 seconds off the pace.

Virgin was the fastest of the new teams with both its drivers in front of Lotus’ Kovalainen. Jarno Trulli had some gearbox problems and was dead last, 10 seconds off the pace.