“There is some room for improvement,” the triple world champion said.
“It will be close with Mercedes; of course we’re not sure what others were
doing with their fuel loads today, but it seems close ahead of tomorrow’s
qualifying.
“I like the track here, it’s a shame it’s so far from Seoul, which is a
great city, but it’s good coming here as it’s quieter than some other
races, which means we can focus on our job.”
Nico Rosberg was third quickest, just 0.016secs behind Vettel, with Mark
Webber fourth fastest, completing a Mercedes-Red Bull lockout of the top
four spots.
The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were back in fifth and
seventh positions, the latter conceding he needs a huge dollop of luck to
make up his 60-point deficit to Vettel in the championship.
With Typhoon Fitow headed this way, Alonso may just get a bit of that on
Sunday.
Mercedes say that their priority this season is now to finish second in the
constructors’ championship ahead of Ferrari, who currently enjoy a seven
point advantage.
Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen bounced back from a shunt in morning practice to go
eighth quickest in the afternoon.
Second practice times:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes 1min 38.673secs
2 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1:38.781
3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 1:38.797
4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:38.844
5 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:39.114
6 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus 1:39.226
7 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:39.444
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus 1:39.757
9 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:39.774
10 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:40.006
11 Paul Di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:40.007
12 Sergio Perez (Mex) McLaren 1:40.152
13 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber 1:40.186
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Sauber 1:40.210
15 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso 1:40.446
16 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Toro Rosso 1:40.552
17 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:41.117
18 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams 1:41.289
19 Giedo van der Garde (Ned) Caterham 1:42.161
20 Charles Pic (Fra) Caterham 1:42.798
21 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia 1:43.108
22 Max Chilton (Gbr) Marussia 1:43.441