Hamilton off the pace in practice for Korea

LEWIS HAMILTON cut a downbeat figure with his title hopes looking increasingly slim after a difficult day in Korea.

Hamilton topped the opening practice session at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, but could only manage the eighth-fastest time in the afternoon running, teammate Jenson Button was fourth.

Hamilton’s best lap was nearly nine-tenths of a second slower than the pacesetting Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

The Mercedes-bound McLaren driver is 42 points adrift of championship leader Fernando Alonso, and 38 behind secondplaced Vettel.

With Red Bull again looking like the car to beat after their domination in Japan, Hamilton is already on the back foot.

He was pessimistic when asked if he felt he could compete with Vettel and Webber, particularly in qualifying.

“I am not sure, the Red Bulls seem pretty quick, but we will keep pushing,” he said.

“Jenson was not that far off the pace today and if we get the set-up right and the fuel loads right and everything, then maybe we can be competitive.

“I was just struggling a bit with set-up today.”

Team-mate Button was by far the more content of the McLaren drivers, but is also concerned by the one-lap speed of Red Bull.

He said: “This afternoon on low fuel and high fuel we have made good progress. We are still not quick enough but we are going in the right direction.

“At the moment it does not look like we are as quick as the Red Bulls, but it’s only practice.”