Vettel wary of tyre issues

Sebastian Vettel is wary that the Korean Grand Prix could be difficult if tyre degradation is high in dry conditions.

With Friday's running carried out on the full wet and intermediate tyres the rate of wear for the dry compounds is currently unknown. Pirelli has supplied the soft and supersoft tyre - the two least durable compounds available - for Korea, and Vettel joked that he might have to complete the race on interemediates.

"We can do maximum five [pitstops] and that is all the tyres we have, then maybe we will have a set of inters again to cross the chequered flag," Vettel is quoted by Autosport. "Maybe it turns out to be better than expected or worse. It is quite a tough track on tyres. I think even with long straights, there is hardly any rest after that. So it's not that easy. Everything we learned today is not worth a lot for the next two days but the car feels alright."

Despite being 1.7s slower than Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Vettel said he is not worried about Red Bull's competitiveness.

"I don't think it is tougher than the other weekends. It would be bad if the others had gone around with half the throttle in the other races, but I don't expect it to be more difficult than other races. We will see who is more competitive. In the conditions this afternoon McLaren looked very strong but we have seen that a couple of times on a Friday so it is hard to say."

ESPNF1