Michael Schumacher sets the fastest time in wet Korean GP practice

The Mercedes driver survived a trip across the muddy pitlane border as well as late attacks from newly crowned world champion Sebastian Vettel and Paul di Resta to stay top of the times as the surface water dissipated slightly in the final moments of the 90 minutes.

The rain threatened to completely wash out first practice until the session came alive in the last 30 minutes.

After nearly an hour of waiting around in the rain - with the exception of some development laps for Lewis Hamilton's McLaren - the Briton re-emerged from the pits and triggered a mini burst of activity as five or six cars joined him within minutes.

Hamilton was the first to post a time with a 2m03.391s lap, which was quickly usurped by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi (2m03.182s).

That time stood for a while as Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber and the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Schumacher all failed to bump the Swiss from the top spot. Meanwhile Pastor Maldonado's Williams ran off the track twice in the space of 10 minutes.

It seemed as if Buemi had enjoyed the best of the conditions as with 10 minutes of the session left, both Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and di Resta had a crack at the top spot. Sutil's lap looked strong until the final sector, while the Scot had to catch a wild moment as the rain continued to fall.

Around the same time, Vettel ran wide around Turn 11, almost dinking another front wing against an unsuspecting wall. As if to emphasise the low grip level, Karun Chandhok also spun his Lotus harmlessly.

Vettel then posted the fastest lap, only to be outdone by Schumacher, whose 2m02.784s was enough to take the top spot. Di Resta persisted to take the third fastest time, ahead of his team-mate, as the chequered flag waved.

Buemi ended up fifth, followed by Kobayashi, Hamilton, Rosberg, Sergio Perez (Sauber) and Mark Webber (Red Bull), as only 18 cars set times. One of those was French rookie Jean-Eric Vergne, who made his practice debut for Toro Rosso and ended the morning 13th.

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

All Timing Unofficial