virgivaughn: Hamilton takes fastest time off Alonso in first practice | 2012 Korean Grand Prix first practice result

Hamilton takes fastest time off Alonso in first practice is an original article from F1 Fanatic. If this article has been published anywhere other than F1 Fanatic it is an infringement of copyright.

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in first practice with his final lap of the session.

Fernando Alonso led the way for much of the 90 minutes before Hamilton took over shortly before the chequered flag.

Williams test driver Valtteri Bottas was the first driver to set a lap time on a visibly dusty and gripless track. Some drivers complained of tyre graining as they struggled to find traction, and the likes of Red Bull didn’t take to the circuit until the second half of the session.

In the meantime several drivers were struggling to keep their cars on the track. Sergio Perez had a high-speed off at turn 11 when he ran wide onto the kerb, kicking up a lot of dust.

Several other drivers had minor off-track moments including Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa.

Alonso led the times for most of the session. A 1’39.857 put his Ferrari comfortably on top and it took a while for anyone to get within a second of his time: Nico Rosberg the first driver to do so.

The Red Bulls eventually took to the track and Mark Webber moved into second, but Alonso improved his time further with a 1’39.450. Hamilton got much closer, moving up to second, 0.025s off the Ferrari.

Alonso returned to the track for a final run but couldn’t improve after locking his front-right tyre at turn three. He then took a lot of kerb at turn 14 and caught a high-speed slide.

The track continued to improve until the dying moments of the session, Felipe Massa setting the fastest time in the first sector with six minutes to go on 18-lap-old tyres.

With less than four minutes to go Hamilton took the fastest time off Alonso, lapping in 1’39.280. He continued to improve up until his final lap, ending the session on 1’39.148.

As the session ended the Red Bull drivers had a near miss as Webber, on a flying lap, caught Sebastian Vettel at turn 14, and had to back off.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Car	Best lap	Gap	Laps
1	4	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1’39.148		23
2	5	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1’39.450	0.302	21
3	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1’39.575	0.427	21
4	6	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1’39.854	0.706	23
5	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1’40.088	0.940	21
6	7	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	1’40.221	1.073	21
7	8	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1’40.396	1.248	24
8	10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1’40.422	1.274	22
9	11	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	1’40.440	1.292	19
10	3	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1’40.480	1.332	21
11	9	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	1’40.929	1.781	14
12	18	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	1’41.048	1.900	25
13	12	Jules Bianchi	Force India-Mercedes	1’41.140	1.992	21
14	14	Kamui Kobayashi	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.220	2.072	19
15	15	Sergio Perez	Sauber-Ferrari	1’41.514	2.366	20
16	16	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’41.596	2.448	23
17	17	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1’42.021	2.873	25
18	19	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	1’42.027	2.879	23
19	20	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham-Renault	1’42.104	2.956	24
20	24	Timo Glock	Marussia-Cosworth	1’42.175	3.027	13
21	25	Charles Pic	Marussia-Cosworth	1’42.708	3.560	22
22	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	1’42.820	3.672	19
23	22	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT-Cosworth	1’44.517	5.369	23
24	23	Dani Clos	HRT-Cosworth	1’45.735	6.587	22