The final practice session of the Korean Grand Prix (Part 5)
After more than 40 minutes in to the session, the top 3 teams were now scoring a number of laps and testing their equipment as the tracks grip level increased.
Nico Rosberg backed off at the end of his first timed lap due to some traffic in his way and remained in 24th place for some time. The order continued to shuffle as grip levels were improving rapidly as the cars laid more rubber on the track.
Kubica was now in sixth with Massa and Petrov in seventh and eighth places respectively.
Mark Webber was now up to second position in the Red Bull with a lap of 1m38.777s. Michael Schumacher also improved his time and moved up to ninth place in the Mercedes after a lap of 1m.40.281s. Kubica found even more pace in his Renault as the session
progressed and took the second quickest lap of the session.
Nico Rosberg was now in the 11th place with a better lap time of 1m40.420s. Hamilton was currently leading the classification with a benchmark time of 1m38.540s ahead of Kubica in second, Webber third and Button fourth.
Down the order in 18th place, Glock led Trulli in the new-teams battle as the top five drivers were all back into the pits as Buemi moved up to sixth position in his Toro Rosso with a lap of 1m39.560s.
With just 15 minutes remaining in the session, Michael Schumacher now took over the sixth place from Buemi with a 1m39.340s effort on hard tyres. Most of the leading drivers were now back in the pits to take a look at the tyre’s degradation and graining
after their run on hard tyres.
Replays showed that the modification made to the kerb at Turn 16 has degraded as the drivers continue to clatter over the soft concrete patch. Jaime Alguersuari jumped up to fifth position in the Toro Rosso but was demoted to sixth place by Nico Rosberg
as the German vaulted up the order to second place with a lap of 1m38.566s.
Only Heidfeld remained on the circuit with just over 10 minutes remaining in the session as the field now contemplated the use of soft tyres. Heidfeld succeeded to improve his lap and moved to 13th place in the classification on a clear track
on hard tyres.
Kamui Kobayashi decided to lead the pack with soft tyres on his Sauber as Bruno Senna told his race engineer that he is experiencing oversteer everywhere on the circuit on HRT’s team radio.
Rubens Barrichello and Sakon Yamamoto decided to join the track to begin their final run of the morning. Marshals were now showing the slippery surface flag for the debris from the degrading kerb at Turn 16.
After 52 minutes in to the session, Kobayashi is now on his first soft tyre flying lap while Jaime Alguersuari joined an increasing number of drivers on the track with just over seven minutes remaining. It was possible that the teams make a run for several
laps on soft tyres in these closing minutes to try and get another read on what looked like a high wear as the track was likely to be heavy for the final five minutes of the session.
Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Tonio Liuzzi joined the racetrack as Webber and Rosberg followed them. Hamilton outbraked himself at Turn 3 on his first soft tyre attempt as the track was filled with 23 cars suddenly with only Hulkenberg in the pits.
The final five minutes were expected to be intense and brutal at the same time as the teams were willing to throw everything including the kitchen sink in order to get a good result before the qualifying session in a couple of hours.
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