South Korea – Free Practice 1: Hamilton shows form, Räikkönen ends up in the wall

The weather is beautiful in Yeongam, and these are perfect conditions to work in when you’re an F1 driver. But as usual, the drivers mostly stay in the pits at the beginning of the session.

First to take to the track, Sebastian Vettel and Rodolfo González break the silence on this South Korean circuit, which should no longer be threatened by a typhoon that had raised fears of the race being canceled for a time. The young driver, replacing Jules Bianchi while the Frenchman has just been confirmed at Marussia for 2014, completes the first timed lap of the session but treats spectators to a spectacular move that leaves his front wing on the track. Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, runs laps at a slow pace without setting any times: development work for the German.

After half an hour, Sergio Perez takes to the track and improves the mark set by Rodolfo Gonzalez, clocking in at 1:44.248. He is followed by James Calado, who is replacing Paul di Resta at Force India, and by Jenson Button. The three men are joined by other drivers, and the testing session is truly underway.

At mid-session, only 15 drivers have set a time. Sergio Perez is still holding the best time while Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Räikkönen take second and third places, without going faster than the McLaren driver. But the rest of the drivers are not long without setting a time and Fernando Alonso takes first place followed by Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel sets the fastest time in one of his early laps before being beaten by Nico Rosberg, while all the other drivers improve, the track becomes faster as the engineers would say. The German from Mercedes significantly improves his time, flirting with the 1:40 mark.

After one hour, the 1:40 mark was surpassed by Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber. The Australian also proves that the straight-line speed deficit that had plagued Red Bull for several years is now just a bad memory by setting the record in the first sector. Jenson Button posts an interesting time to climb to 4th place, between Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

The tire wear starts to become noticeable towards the end of the session. It’s not uncommon to see drivers locking their wheels or making slight drifts, something they weren’t doing in the middle of the session.

At the very end of the session, Sebastian Vettel improves his time to secure the second fastest lap, while Kimi Räikkönen ends up in the wall at the final corner; his Lotus went completely sideways throughout the entire turn. The Lotus mechanics will have work to do during the break between practice sessions. The Finn, for his part, emerged unscathed.

It is Lewis Hamilton who finishes at the top just ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The two teams specializing in qualifying this year are unsurprisingly at the forefront, unlike an astonishing Jenson Button in fifth place ahead of Fernando Alonso and the two Lotus drivers.

**Results of Free Practice 1 of the South Korean Grand Prix**