McLaren has enjoyed a clean sweep in second practice for the Korean Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button comfortably out-pacing their nearest rivals by almost two seconds.
The afternoon’s session gave the drivers and teams no let-up in the wet conditions, but Hamilton and Webber showed great control on the slippery surface to claim a team 1-2.
Despite the weather conditions being little different to what had been experienced in the morning, it was a positively busy session, with cars pouring onto the tarmac as soon as the pit lane opened for business.
After the Red Bull pairing of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had posted some early lap times to move to the top of the timing screens, the McLaren set to work and quickly lowered the benchmark time.
Half an hour into the session, and Hamilton’s time of 1:50.828 would remain unchallenged for the remained of the day’s running. Button mounted a late charge, narrowly missing out on claiming top honours by just 0.1 seconds.
Later on, Fernando Alonso would move his Ferrari into third place (almost two seconds adrift of Hamilton’s outright pace), only to be beaten by Vettel, who only managed a fractionally quicker time, two spots ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.
Despite having surrendered his seat to the team’s new Friday rookie, Jaime Alguersuari took his Toro Rosso sixth-fastest, only to find himself involved in an unusual collision with Nico Rosberg, being harpooned by the Mercedes driver who ran wide exiting Turn 1 as Alguersuari was emerging from the pits.
Rosberg was later issued with a €10,000 fine (€5,000 of which was suspended) by the FIA Stewards, not for causing the incident, but for dawdling en route to their offices when summoned to see them at the end of the session.
————————————————————————————————————-
2011 Korean Grand Prix – Free Practice 2 Session Times:
Driver | Team | Time | Laps | ||
1. | Lewis Hamilton | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | 1:50.828 | 26 |
2. | Jenson Button | ![]() |
McLaren Mercedes MP4-26 | + 0.104 | 19 |
3. | Sebastian Vettel | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 1.818 | 30 |
4. | Fernando Alonso | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 1.946 | 25 |
5. | Mark Webber | ![]() |
Red Bull Renault RB7 | + 2.221 | 27 |
6. | Jaime Alguersuari | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 2.574 | 25 |
7. | Felipe Massa | ![]() |
Ferrari F150° Italia | + 2.879 | 24 |
8. | Nico Rosberg | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 3.086 | 18 |
9. | Sébastien Buemi | ![]() |
Toro Rosso Ferrari STR6 | + 3.120 | 27 |
10. | Paul di Resta | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 3.129 | 32 |
11. | Vitaly Petrov | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 3.372 | 26 |
12. | Adrian Sutil | ![]() |
Force India Mercedes VJM04 | + 3.564 | 26 |
13. | Rubens Barrichello | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 4.003 | 30 |
14. | Michael Schumacher | ![]() |
Mercedes GP W02 | + 4.137 | 21 |
15. | Bruno Senna | ![]() |
Renault R31 | + 4.359 | 28 |
16. | Sergio Pérez | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 4.375 | 24 |
17. | Kamui Kobayashi | ![]() |
Sauber Ferrari C30 | + 4.716 | 23 |
18. | Pastor Maldonado | ![]() |
Williams Cosworth FW33 | + 5.239 | 22 |
19. | Heikki Kovalainen | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 5.841 | 20 |
20. | Jarno Trulli | ![]() |
Lotus Renault T128 | + 6.345 | 19 |
21. | Timo Glock | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 7.441 | 25 |
22. | Jérôme d’Ambrosio | ![]() |
Virgin Racing Cosworth MVR-02 | + 8.630 | 26 |
23. | Daniel Ricciardo | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 9.130 | 19 |
24. | Vitantonio Liuzzi | ![]() |
HRT F1 Cosworth F111 | + 9.337 | 20 |
[Image via FOM and Sutton Images]
Richard Bailey
Latest posts by Richard Bailey (see all)
- 2020 F1 Season Review (Blu Ray) - 27 February, 2021
- WTCR: Guerrieri outwits Muller at the Nordschleife - 26 September, 2020
- WTCR: Girolami breaks Nordschleife lap record to claim pole - 25 September, 2020
- WTCR: Hyundai withdraws from Germany round - 24 September, 2020
- WTCR: Ehrlacher leads Lynk & Co podium sweep at Zolder - 13 September, 2020