Hamilton stays ahead in Korea

2013 Korean Grand Prix second practice

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Lewis Hamilton improved his quickest time from first practice by almost a second and remained the driver to beat in Korea.

The Mercedes and Red Bull drivers were closely matched, all four drivers separated by less than two tenths of a second after their runs on the super-soft tyres.

Sebastian Vettel was the last driver to do a lap on the softer rubber but fell short of beating Hamilton by a tenth of a second afterwards. He pitted immediately afterwards due to a problem with his brake bias adjuster.

Felipe Massa was best of the rest for Ferrari, just over four-tenths of a second slower than Hamilton. He had a run-in with the driver who will replace him at Ferrari next year during the session, locking a wheel as he passed Raikkonen’s Lotus.

Raikkonen’s car was repaired in good time following his crash in the first session, allowing him to set eighth-quickest time, the Lotus and Ferrari drivers occupying positions five to eight.

Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil completed the top ten, the latter pipping his team mate by just one thousandth of a second.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
110Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’38.67331
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’38.7810.10830
39Nico RosbergMercedes1’38.7970.12432
42Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’38.8440.17135
54Felipe MassaFerrari1’39.1140.44130
68Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’39.2260.55334
73Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’39.4440.77131
87Kimi RaikkonenLotus-Renault1’39.7571.08433
95Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’39.7741.10129
1015Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’40.0061.33334
1114Paul di RestaForce India-Mercedes1’40.0071.33434
126Sergio PerezMcLaren-Mercedes1’40.1521.47931
1312Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’40.1861.51333
1411Nico HulkenbergSauber-Ferrari1’40.2101.53734
1518Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Ferrari1’40.4461.77330
1619Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’40.5521.87926
1716Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Renault1’41.1172.44435
1817Valtteri BottasWilliams-Renault1’41.2892.61634
1921Giedo van der GardeCaterham-Renault1’42.4613.78836
2020Charles PicCaterham-Renault1’42.7984.12535
2122Jules BianchiMarussia-Cosworth1’43.1084.43531
2223Max ChiltonMarussia-Cosworth1’43.4414.76829

2013 Korean Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    16 comments on “Hamilton stays ahead in Korea”

    1. Great, but I don’t think Hamilton’s pace will be that way for tomorrow, although I want it to be :P

    2. I think Mercedes could challenge for the first row tomorrow. I saw how Vettel was avoiding answering when asked how satisfied he was, so I take his answer that he was fine with the session with a solid pinch of salt.

      Off course its possible that Red Bull will redo setup for tomorrow and storm past the field (they have done that before) but its not all lost for the weekend.

      1. Stands were empty, Seb needs boos to perform at top level. When his detractors arrive tomorrow he will outshine the field again :)

        However, looking forward for a strong Mercedes duo, at least on the battle for pole.

    3. Mercedes are the only realistic team that can prevent Red Bull, and to be more specific, Vettel, from achieving pole position tomorrow, which will obviously make the race more interesting. Let’s hope for the best.

      1. Dont forget he won last 2 Korean GP’s from P2 :)

      2. I hope for a Lewis Nico 1-2 and then obviously seb will be in the mix . But if Alonso can get P4 and get a storming start , now that would be FANTASTIC !!!

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          4th October 2013, 8:50

          Okay so you really imagine Vettel and Alonso won’t pass Nico and Lewis? @hamilfan

          1. @shreyasf1fan Of course they can .I was merely speculating . It’s all possible ;-) . Anything is okay for me except vettel storming off into the distance.

            1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
              4th October 2013, 9:09

              @hamilfan True mate. A 4-
              way battle between Lewis,
              Fernando, Nico and Vettel
              will be really cool ;) Though
              Vettel will still win, it will be
              a more “satisfying” win,
              even for himself. A different
              winner (one of my two fav
              ALO or HAM, but I like ALO
              better) would make my
              day! ;)

    4. Amazing list – only the McLaren drivers are separated by more than one place. If this was the order for the grid, six teams would be starting their drivers next to each other, four teams with one driver directly in front of the other.
      Of all the driver pairs, Perez didn’t keep up with Button.
      It looks like this track is less about the driver and more about the car – or all the drivers are around the same level, which I don’t believe.
      That may mean that the race will be more a set of battles between team-mates rather than between teams, but I can hope it’s a bit more open than that.

      1. Yes it’s very clear at this track wich car is the fastest.
        Mercedes and Red Bull are on about the same pace the whole year
        Lotus and Ferrari are also on about the same pace the whole year
        McLaren and Force India are also very close the whole year
        Then Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Caterham and Marussia are all in order of the current
        speed of their cars.
        Only Force India are a little bit to high placed, compared to their form in the last couple of races

    5. Felipe Massa was best of the rest for Ferrari, just over four-tenths of a second slower than Vettel.

      Looks like even Keith starts assuming that Vettel is always in P1! @keithcollantine

      1. Considering Massa and lesser positions everyone is more than 4 tenths of a second slower , You can surely call him the best of the rest !

    6. Hopefully the Mercs will put up a good fight tomorrow…but whatever happens, unless the heavens open, it will be a Vettel win…as much as I dont want it to be!!

    7. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      4th October 2013, 9:07

      @hamilfan True mate. A 4-way battle between Lewis, Fernando, Nico and Vettel will be really cool ;) Though Vettel will still win, it will be a more “satisfying” win, even for himself. A different winner (one of my two fav ALO or HAM, but I like ALO better) would make my day! ;)

    8. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      4th October 2013, 9:15

      Sebastian Vettel was the last driver to do a lap on the softer rubber but fell short of beating Hamilton by a tenth of a second afterwards.

      We don’t know fuel loads, but that’s an encouraging sign for the two Mercs, as the track will have rubbered in during the time between their run, and Vettel’s late run.

    Comments are closed.