Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes posted the fastest times in both practice sessions at the Formula One Korean Grand Prix here on Friday, setting the pace early as the only F1 stop in the country got underway.
The British driver clocked a lap time of 1 minute and 38.673 seconds in the afternoon practice at the Korea International Circuit here, about 400 kilometers south of Seoul. In the morning session, Hamilton topped the field with 1:39.630.
"It's been a good day," Hamilton said. "I feel like I have a bit of a better foundation this weekend. I can't remember the last time I had a really strong Friday."
Hamilton said he didn't change anything from the morning and "all the processes with the team worked well."
"I love this track -- it was clean from the start," he added.
"It provides good racing on Sunday afternoon and it just gets harder and harder through the lap."
Two-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel was the second-fastest in both sessions, posting 1:39.667 in the morning and 1:38.781 in the afternoon. The Red Bull star is currently the runaway leader in the drivers' standings with 247 points, 60 points ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, on the strength of seven victories in the year's first 13 races.
Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, ranked third at 1:39.816 in the morning and fourth in the afternoon at 1:38.844.
Vettel spoke of "some room for improvement" after his day was done.
"It will be close with Mercedes," he said. "Of course, we're not sure what others were doing with their fuel loads today, but it seems close ahead of tomorrow's qualifying."
Drivers lapped the 5.615-kilometer circuit for 90 minutes in the morning and again in the afternoon. Drivers may lap the course as often as they choose, with their fastest time becoming their official practice result.
They will have one final practice run starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the qualifying race at 2 p.m., which will determine pole positions for the final.
The final will begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Hamilton was the runner-up in both the 2010 and 2011 Korean Grand Prix races. He also had the fastest practice time in the first session in 2010 and in 2012. (Yonhap News)
