Schumacher and Hamilton lead damp Free Practice, as Vergne makes his debut - Michael and Lewis top the session, as drivers struggle with the conditions
Published by Christine
This is F1Minute - Schumacher and Hamilton lead damp Free Practice, as Vergne makes his debut.
The first practice session in Korea was absolutely soaking wet and there was little useful running to be had. That didn’t stop some of the drivers heading out onto the damp tarmac though, and we saw plenty of spins, including Karun Chandhok - in Jarno Trulli’s Lotus - and Pastor Maldonado.
Toro Rosso gave test driver Jean-Éric Vergne a chance in Jaime Alguersuari’s car, and the young Frenchman also found it hard to stay on track. In the end, it was Michael Schumacher who topped the times, whilst both Ferrari and Renault drivers, plus Heikki Kovalainen and Jenson Button all opted for installation laps only.
Free Practice 2 was a similar story in terms of the weather, but the teams were keen to make up for lost time. McLaren found their drivers top of the leaderboard, trading times until Lewis Hamilton secured P1. As the conditions improved, we started to see dry tyres being put on the cars, and that meant there were plenty of spins and off-track excursions to be had.
