Korean GP: Lewis Hamilton sets FP1 pace as Raikkonen crashes

Mercedes driver Hamilton posted a lap of 1m39.630s to beat championship leader Sebastian Vettel by 0.037s, although the Red Bull driver had all the fastest sectors of the session.

Team-mate Mark Webber was third quickest and the only other man to lap in the 1m39s.

Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes was fourth ahead of McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. Romain Grosjean was seventh ahead of Raikkonen, who ended the session with a heavy crash.

As the session was coming to a close, Raikkonen lost control of his Lotus and crashed heavily at the final corner, causing substantial damage to his car.

The Finn was able to walk away from the crash, but the team faces a race against the time to have the car ready for second practice.

Although perfect weather conditions welcomed the drivers at the start of the session, it took over 15 minutes before the first lap time was set by Rodolfo Gonzalez.

The Marussia driver had the track basically to himself for the first half hour, but that did not stop him from enduring drama, the Venezuelan losing control of his car and crashing against the barriers at Turn 13.

He lost his front wing and returned to the pits, leaving the circuit empty for several more minutes.

McLaren's Sergio Perez and Button joined Gonzalez in the timesheets with over 35 minutes of the session gone as the action finally began to pick up. Perez was the pacesetter for several minutes as most of the frontrunners continues to wait in their garages for the track conditions to improve.

Mercedes' Rosberg relegated Perez to second at the 50-minute mark, the German posting a 1m41.498s that was soon bettered by less than a tenth by Alonso.

Rosberg fought back seconds later to regain the top spot, the Mercedes driver followed by Vettel and Raikkonen, all of them lapping in the 1m40s.

Hamilton's time would remain unbeaten until the end, although Vettel moved up to second with a minute of the session left.

Apart from Gonzalez's and Raikkonen's crashes, the session included spins from James Calado and Hamilton, as well as several offs without further consequences.

Felipe Massa's session was curtailed by a puncture that meant the Brazilian spent most of the 90 minutes in the pits, the Ferrari driver completing his first timed lap with just 12 minutes to go.

Pos Driver                Team                  Time       Gap    Laps
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m39.630s           20
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m39.667s  +0.037s  20
 3. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m39.816s  +0.186s  19
 4. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m40.117s  +0.487s  20
 5. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m40.215s  +0.585s  22
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m40.374s  +0.744s  18
 7. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m40.396s  +0.766s  19
 8. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m40.677s  +1.047s  15
 9. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m40.860s  +1.230s  20
10. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m40.880s  +1.250s  13
11. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.899s  +1.269s  20
12. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m41.432s  +1.802s  18
13. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m41.482s  +1.852s  22
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.626s  +1.996s  21
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m41.924s  +2.294s  19
16. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m42.002s  +2.372s  20
17. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m42.043s  +2.413s  18
18. James Calado          Force India-Mercedes  1m43.008s  +3.378s  21
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m43.660s  +4.030s  20
20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m43.883s  +4.253s  19
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m44.100s  +4.470s  14
22. Rodolfo Gonzalez      Marussia-Cosworth     1m46.810s  +7.180s  10