Practice
Hamilton dominated for Mercedes on Friday, going fastest in both sessions, continuing with fourth on Saturday morning. Rosberg underlined their pace with fourth, third and third in the three sessions respectively, and both drivers were upbeat about the car and track, with slight concerns on front tyre wear. Red Bull ran them close, with Vettel second in both sessions on Friday and fastest on Saturday morning, with Webber in P3 and P4 on Friday, backing up Vettel closely with P2 ahead of qualifying. Vettel felt there was still some work to do, and Webber said they needed to focus on both short and long run balance. Ferrari slotted in behind the front two rows, with Felipe Massa going fastest for them on Friday to go P5 in the afternoon, after P10 in the morning session which was hampered by a puncture, and a similar P7 on Saturday. He got through their test programme and felt the car was good, though there were degradation issues on the option tyre. Alonso managed P6 and P7 on Friday, with a further P5 on Saturday morning to define their position on the grid. He wasn't particularly optimistic, feeling there would be little change from the status quo at this track, but that they had a good chance on race day. Lotus mixed it with the Ferrari's as Grosjean found more consistent form to take seventh and two sixths in the three sessions, struggling a little with balance and hoping the track would improve to help them. Raikkonen took eighth in all three sessions, marked by destroying his car in FP1 on Friday morning, but the team got it together for the afternoon and he had a solid session, pleased with the long run pace, but feeling short run speed was lacking. McLaren generally rounded up the top ten, with Jenson Button taking a solid fifth in the morning on Friday, and what he felt was a more representative P9 and P10 in the following two sessions. He felt he didn't get the best from the option tyre on his fast laps, but that they were closer to Lotus than they had been in the last few races. Perez was not quite so happy with the car, only managing P9 on Friday morning, before slipping back to P12 and P14 in the afternoon and Saturday's session. He said they had a lot of work to do to optimise the car for high fuel, and that they were in a similar position to Singapore, and hoped for rain to shake up the field. Force India remained behind McLaren as Sutil took P12 and P10, followed by P13 as he felt the car seemed quite stable but with more work to do. Rookie James Calado ran with Di Resta's car in FP1, lapping P18 as he ran with high fuel and learnt the tricky track, finding high tyre wear. Di Resta took P11 in the afternoon and P16 on Saturday, generally pleased with their long run pace and tyre wear, feeling they needed to find qualifying pace. Sauber continued their rise from the bottom of the midfield in Korea as Hulkenberg, seeking to impress for a better drive next season, took P11 and P14 on Friday, breaking into the top ten for P9 on Friday ahead of Button. Teammate Gutierrez achieved P14, P13 and P11 over the sessions, showing good progress. Both drivers felt the car was good, but there was more work to do ahead of qualifying. Torro Rosso lacked the edge of recent races as Vergne led the way with P15 both sessions Friday and P17 on Saturday, with teammate and future Red Bull driver Ricciardo P17, P16 and P15 over the three sessions. Both drivers struggled for pace and balance, and knew there was a lot more work to do after the disappointing start to the weekend. Williams slipped back a little again; Maldonado delivered a solid P13, followed by P17 and then P12 ahead of qualifying as they tested a new front wing design. Bottas struggled with the front end on the old wing, only achieving P16 and two P18s, looking for balance. At the back of the pack, Caterham took what has become a rather typical position ahead Marussia as their two drivers swapped 19th and 20th places, with Pic just edging Van der Garde by going P19-P20-P19 over the three sessions. Both drivers found the circuit very green to start with and had issues with traction, but overall were pleased with the tyre wear and felt they had good options ahead of the race. Marussia brought up the rear, with rookie Rodolfo Gonzalez borrowing Bianchi's car for FP1, lapping P22 and having an off that took the front wing off the car. Luckily it was only the nose cone, and once back on track he ran aero tests. Bianchi took over for the afternoon and took P21 followed by another P21 on Saturday, albeit with a spin at turn 9, and generally felt it was a decent start to the weekend. Chilton took P21 ahead of rookie Rodolfo in FP1, then finished P22 in both other sessions at his first Korean Grand Prix as he struggled with balance.