Korean GP – Free Practice 1: Schumacher Leads, Vergne Discovers

After leaving it in the rain, Formula One returns to the Yeongam circuit under equally unfavorable weather conditions, with an air temperature of 17°C and a humidity level of 87%. However, the rain does not stop the drivers from taking to the track, starting with Jean-Eric Vergne who will replace Jaime Alguersuari at the wheel of the Toro Rosso for this Friday morning practice session. Similarly, Trulli gives up his seat to Chandhok, and Liuzzi temporarily relinquishes his to Karthikeyan.

The drivers take turns venturing onto the track for their traditional installation laps, but all show great caution. The action is expected to remain very sporadic, as the teams anticipate better conditions later in the day and over the weekend, especially since only one week separates them from the Japanese Grand Prix, leaving little development work to be done.

In the garages, the drivers are out of their single-seaters and are talking with their teams or among themselves, like the two Indian drivers who have a last opportunity here to get to know their respective cars before their home Grand Prix in India. However, on the other side, Jean-Eric Vergne and Lewis Hamilton are ready, strapped in their seats, to leap onto the track as soon as their teams give them the green light. The Brit is the first to return to the track after half an hour of inaction but returns to the pits before triggering the stopwatch.

This weather is an opportunity for the production to focus on the scenery, even though no significant work appears to have been done on the circuit and its surroundings since the inaugural Grand Prix, except for the inner wall of the last corner which has been set back to improve the visibility of cars when they enter the pit lane.

At mid-session, McLaren seems to be the only team more or less prepared to send one of its drivers on track, while Lewis Hamilton hasn’t left his car since his last lap. The Briton actually takes to the circuit and is the first to trigger the stopwatch, followed by Karun Chandhok in the Lotus T128, who doesn’t press on further.

The McLaren driver thus sets the first timed lap of this Grand Prix at 2:05.484, a time that the Englishman logically improves to 2:03.391. Sebastien Buemi then crosses the timing line with a time of 2:07.906 for his first lap, as Lewis Hamilton returns to the pits.

One by one, the drivers take to the track, notably with Jean Eric-Vergne setting his first official Formula One time at 2:13.807, while Buemi takes the top spot on the timesheet with a 2:03.182. Third place goes to Kobayashi, slotting in between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. Vergne steadily improves his time lap after lap, while Pastor Maldonado makes several small mistakes on the track.

As the final 20 minutes approach, the session becomes somewhat lively as some top drivers like Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso hit the track: Buemi leads Hamilton, Schumacher, Kobayashi, Rosberg, Maldonado, Vergne, Ricciardo, and Karthikeyan.

Fernando Alonso does not insist and returns to the pits while Paul Di Resta has a big scare going sideways, without consequences, at the entry of the last curve. Fourth, Adrian Sutil achieves the best time in the first sector but fails to improve his position.

The Scot from Force India then moves into 5th place, after once again experiencing a big scare at the entrance of the last curve. The track, very wet, is treacherous for all drivers, including the new double world champion, forced into an off-track excursion on the paved section. Clocking the seventh fastest time in 2:04.425 in his second lap, the German is joined on the track by his teammate, Mark Webber, while Fernando Alonso completes laps without triggering the stopwatch.

Best time in the first sector, Michael Schumacher does not improve, however, following a slight off-track in the second sector. Sebastian Vettel takes the lead on the timesheet with a 2:02.852, quickly dislodged by Michael Schumacher, who clocked a lap time of 2:02.784, the following lap.

The Red Bull driver also experienced a scare while following a Virgin. Masked by the plume of rain spray raised by the red and black car, the German driver was surprised by the sudden slowdown of the Virgin, into whose diffuser he would have ended his session without a reflexive turn of the wheel.

If Adrian Sutil could not improve his best time, Paul di Resta, on the other hand, did improve but still ended up in third place, behind Schumacher and Vettel. The seven-time German world champion thus recorded the best time at the end of a session that was only enlivened in its final third, on a circuit made tricky by the rain.

Free Practice 1 Standings of the 2011 Korean Grand Prix: