Hamilton, who has been palpably embarrassed by his misguided Twitter rant at
Button last Sunday, had been confident of a strong performance after McLaren
fixed a suspension problem that hindered him in Japan.
But he found himself nearly nine-tenths off Vettel’s ultimate pace and
suffered an off-track excursion during the final minutes.
Nico Hulkenberg was ninth in the Force India with the Lotus pair of Kimi
Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean 10th and 11th.
The Enstone outfit have brought a series of upgrades to Yeongam, including a
new exhaust system, but they do not appear set to boost Raikkonen’s fading
championship hopes.
Bruno Senna was 12th for Williams, with Paul Di Resta 13th ahead of the two
Saubers.
The Swiss team secured a podium in Japan with Kamui Kobayashi, but a repeat
looks unlikely this weekend as he and team-mate Sergio Perez finished 14th
and 15th.
The Mexican’s frustrations were not helped when he was forced to abandon his
car after it ground to a halt halfway through the session.
Pastor Maldonado was a disappointing 18th for Williams, behind the Toro Rossos
of Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo, with the Caterhams, Marussias and
HRTs filling out the bottom six places.