Michael Schumacher topped a sodden first practice session in Korea on Friday.
The German veteran set his best late in very wet conditions that saw several drivers suffer offs and spins.
Schumacher too, very nearly crashed his Mercedes into the inner pit wall after traipsing across a damp patch. Despite the persistent mishaps, no damage was inflicted to any machinery.
Schumacher’s best lap of 2:02.784 just edged out champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) by a mere 0.056 seconds. It could have been a much worse session for Vettel.
The Red Bull man very nearly collected a slow Virgin on a run through the second second, after being blinded by shooting spray.
It was a decent morning for Force India with Paul di Resta 3rd, just over a tenth off the pace and Adrian Sutil 4th. Sebastien Buemi led the Toro Rosso charge in 5th ahead of Kamui Kobayashi 6th on the leaderboard.
Buemi’s teammate for the morning was third driver Jean-Eric Vergne. The Frenchman set the 13th best time, nearly five seconds off the pace – a worthwhile effort considering the conditions.
Lewis Hamilton set the 7th quickest time, although the McLaren pilot finished his programme early. The Briton was the first to set a time (after 55 minutes), completing six laps to evaluate some aerodynamic of mechanical parts.
Ferrari brought a new front wing, but neither driver ran any timed laps.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 2m02.784s 10 2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2m02.840s + 0.056 8 3. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 2m02.912s + 0.128 12 4. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2m03.141s + 0.357 12 5. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m03.182s + 0.398 9 6. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2m03.292s + 0.508 13 7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 2m03.391s + 0.607 6 8. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 2m04.311s + 1.527 12 9. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 2m04.797s + 2.013 8 10. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 2m05.183s + 2.399 5 11. Karun Chandhok Lotus-Renault 2m06.350s + 3.566 11 12. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 2m06.852s + 4.068 11 13. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m07.541s + 4.757 9 14. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 2m08.218s + 5.434 5 15. Narian Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 2m08.832s + 6.048 14 16. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 2m09.232s + 6.448 14 17. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 2m12.658s + 9.874 7 18. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2m14.508s + 11.724 4 19. Felipe Massa Ferrari no time 1 20. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 5 21. Bruno Senna Renault no time 1 22. Vitaly Petrov Renault no time 1 23. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault no time 1 24. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes no time 1
