The exhilarating qualifying session (Q1) of the inaugural Korean Grand prix (Part 2)
Q1 continued as the three top teams, McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari had completed their timed laps of the session and almost all the teams had already scored their timed laps.
Button was the only driver left out of the top 5 to score a timed lap but he decided to change that as he headed out for his first run. Kubica remained in the pit garage and was still waiting for the right moment.
Glock and Kobayashi added dusty offs to the challenge in the last minute of their run.
Jaime Alguersuari ran wide and kicked up the dust on his lap during the 11th minute around the Korean International Circuit but luckily, the Spaniard was able to continue without damage.
Vettel was up to second position with a lap time of 1m37.487s while Hamilton pushed for another time with a quick 52.443s first sector. The order is now Alonso at the top of the tree with Vettel in second position, Hamilton third, Massa fourth, Rosberg fifth
and Webber in sixth.
Hamilton could not stand anyone on top of him so he took back the lead with a time of 1m37.113s, despite a couple of small errors through the closing half of the lap.
Kubica finally headed out of the pits for the first time. Sebastian Vettel was on the move as the German moved up a spot to second with a lap time of 1m37.123s on a pair of hard tyres.
Button banked a time to take the 14th and was now pushing to join the lead pack however; he caught some traffic in the form of Petrov. Mark Webber pushed hard on this lap and he moved up to fourth place with a time of 1m37.373s. The reigning champion further
moved up to 10th but was still looking for more than that.
With just 5 minutes remaining in the 20min Q1 session, all the top 24 drivers scored their registered laps with Nick Heidfeld joining the six drivers from the three new teams in the drop zone disappointingly.
Kubica took the 11th place in his very first effort but had to encounter Senna. Both of the drivers were on their flying laps. Kubica was forced to back off and had to find some space in order to go for another attempt.
Heidfeld improved to 18th position on 1m41.174s after a poor string of laps until the 17 minute marker and his next target was Tonio Liuzzi for the 17th place. The German driver was now on a much better lap this time as he used the soft tyres and moved up
the order. Alonso headed out for another run to help his knowledge of the track conditions before Heidfeld moved up to 11th place to put Liuzzi in the drop zone in 18th.
The two Force India cars were in 17th and 18th places and Barrichello was not safe either in 16th position. Petrov and Hulkenberg clocked faster times and were now in seventh and eighth places. Schumacher improved to become the ninth
quickest in his Mercedes.
With just a minute left in Q1, Liuzzi improved from 18th to 15th and forced his team-mate Sutil in the drop zone. Barrichello pulled himself clear of the danger zone right before the flag comes out. Sutil was now running on his best lap so far, and it seemed
that he would turn the tables on his teammate.
After the chequered flag waved, Button improved his time slightly but was still down in eighth while the Force Indian drivers continued their game of musical chairs Sutil moved up to 13th to put his teammate Liuzzi in the dreaded 18th position.
Kubica edged forwards and became the sixth quickest driver in his Renault. Liuzzi was still on track on his final official lap but was not able to improve and remained in 18th position and did not qualify for Q2.
Button said on the radio that he was struggling to get temperature into his harder tyres but would try his best in Q2 after a 5 minute break.
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