Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton beat Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to set the pace in second practice at the Korean Grand Prix. Hamilton was 0.108 seconds ahead of the world champion, with the Englishman’s team-mate Nico Rosberg third and the second Red Bull of Mark Webber fourth.
The four cars at the front – the two Mercedes and the two Red Bulls – were split by just 0.171secs, while there was a gap back to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and the rest of the field.
Felipe Massa took fifth place, split from team-mate Fernando Alonso by Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. Alonso was 0.33secs off his team-mate’s pace but Ferrari said he had suffered “a little bit of traffic” on his fastest lap.
Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen was eighth fastest, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button and Force India’s Adrian Sutil.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m38.673s 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m38.781s +0.108s 3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m38.797s +0.124s 4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m38.844s +0.171s 5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m39.114s +0.441s 6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1m39.226s +0.553s 7. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m39.444s +0.771s 8. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m39.757s +1.084s 9. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.774s +1.101s 10. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m40.006s +1.333s 11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1m40.007s +1.334s 12. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.152s +1.479s 13. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.186s +1.513s 14. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.210s +1.537s 15. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.446s +1.773s 16. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.552s +1.879s 17. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1m41.117s +2.444s 18. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1m41.289s +2.616s 19. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1m42.461s +3.788s 20. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1m42.798s +4.125s 21. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1m43.108s +4.435s 22. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1m43.441s +4.768s