Michael Schumacher topped the first practice session for the Korean Grand Prix with a late run on an improving track to post a 2:02.784.
He was closely followed by 2011 champion, Sebastian Vettel, just +0.056 slower on his final run. Paul di Resta, Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi, Kamui Kobayashi and Lewis Hamilton all to within a second of Schumacher’s time.
The session was a case of staying on track equalled an almost perfect lap as nearly every driver ran wide at least once, whilst many made several mistakes in the heavy rain.
For comparison, in 2010, the quickest lap was set by Hamilton in the high 1.40s – meaning Schumacher’s best was just under +22 seconds slower than a dry lap, as was the amount of surface water.
There were no major crashes, but several spins.
With the teams learning very little about their setup and performance, many packed up after just a single out-lap, whilst some attempted a handful of flying laps – the most coming from the HRT drivers; Vitantonio Liuzzi and Daniel Ricciardo, both on 14.
Korean GP Free Practice 1 Results:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 2:02.784 | 10 | |
| 02. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 2:02.840 | +0.056 | 8 |
| 03. | P. di Resta | Force India | 2:02.912 | +0.128 | 12 |
| 04. | A. Sutil | Force India | 2:03.141 | +0.357 | 12 |
| 05. | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 2:03.182 | +0.398 | 9 |
| 06. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 2:03.292 | +0.508 | 13 |
| 07. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 2:03.391 | +0.607 | 6 |
| 08. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 2:04.311 | +1.527 | 12 |
| 09. | S. Perez | Sauber | 2:04.797 | +2.013 | 8 |
| 10. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 2:05.183 | +2.399 | 5 |
| 11. | K. Chandhok | Team Lotus | 2:06.350 | +3.566 | 11 |
| 12. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 2:06.852 | +4.068 | 11 |
| 13. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 2:07.541 | +4.757 | 9 |
| 14. | R. Barrichello | Williams | 2:08.218 | +5.434 | 5 |
| 15. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 2:08.832 | +6.048 | 14 |
| 16. | D. Ricciardo | HRT | 2:09.232 | +6.448 | 14 |
| 17. | J. d’Ambrosio | Virgin | 2:12.658 | +9.874 | 7 |
| 18. | T. Glock | Virgin | 2:14.508 | +11.724 | 4 |
| 19. | F. Massa | Ferrari | No Time | 1 | |
| 20. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | No Time | 5 | |
| 21. | B. Senna | Renault | No Time | 1 | |
| 22. | V. Petrov | Renault | No Time | 1 | |
| 23. | H. Kovalainen | Team Lotus | No Time | 1 | |
| 24. | J. Button | McLaren | No Time | 1 |
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