Double top for Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes rival Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton provided further evidence to suggest Mercedes have the pace to trouble Red Bull at the Korean GP by completing a Friday double in Practice Two in Yeongam.

Ahead of a race in which Sebastian Vettel is chasing a fourth consecutive victory, the World Champion was denied top spot in a P2 session for the first time since June's British GP by the flying Hamilton, whose marginally superior pace from the morning session transferred into the supersoft tyre runs in the afternoon.

Vettel, 60 points ahead in the standings and firmly on course for a fourth world title in a row, was 0.108sec off Hamilton's best time of 1min 38.673sec in the second outing.

Lotus driver Kimi 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 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 last month in Singapore.