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Korean 2nd practice: Lewis again


YEONGAM, South Korea - Lewis Hamilton was fastest in both free practice sessions for the 2013 Korean F1 GP pn Friday and Kimi Raikkonen escaped a heavy crash in the opening session.

Britain's Hamilton, whose debut season for Mercedes is in danger of petering out, nudged Red Bull's championship leader Sebastian Vettel into second in both sessions.

Vettel, 60 points ahead in the standings and firmly on course for a fourth title in a row, was 0.108sec off Hamilton's best time of 1min38.673 in the second outing.

'I HIT THE WALL'

Under blue skies at the Yeongam circuit Lotus driver Raikkonen, fourth in the title race, was only eighth quickest in both sessions and spun off towards the end of the morning practice, slamming into a tyre wall.
The Ferrari-bound Raikkonen appeared unharmed and he was back in action in the afternoon but the incident will spark fresh concern over his long-term back injury which flared again a month earlier in Singapore.

There were heads in hands in the Lotus pit after the team watched images of Raikkonen careering into the concrete wall. Asked by one of his engineers what happened, the famously terse Raikkonen replied sardonically over the team radio:

"I hit the wall."

Hamilton's team mate Nico Rosberg was third-fastest in the second session, followed by Vettel's stablemate Mark Webber.

Felipe Massa was fifth but the fellow Ferrari of Fernando Alonso, Vettel's nearest rival in the world championship, was down in seventh after an error-strewn run.

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2013 Korean GP weekend.

2013 Korean second free practice times
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1min38.673
2 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 1min38.781
3 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min38.797
4 Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 1min38.844
5 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1min39.114
6 Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 1min39.226
7 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min39.444
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 1min39.757
9 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min39.774
10 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1min40.006
11 Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 1min40.007
12 Sergio Perez (Mexico) McLaren 1min40.152
13 Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Sauber 1min40.186
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Sauber 1min40.210
15 Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 1min40.446
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 1min40.552
17 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1min41.117
18 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 1min41.289
19 Giedo van der Garde (Netherlands) Caterham 1min42.461
20 Charles Pic (France) Caterham 1min42.798
21 Jules Bianchi (France) Marussia 1min43.108
22 Max Chilton (Britain) Marussia 1min43.441
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