Begian GP - FP1 - Schumacher leads the pack with a dry run
Belgian Grand Prix, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa - Friday Practice Session 1 - Result
It was Michael Schumacher in the Mercedes who set the fastest time for the first practice session with sum luck from the dry track run just at the start of the session. Teammate Nico Rosberg was second fastest. It was a good start for the Mercedes after a long summer break. But still the fastest team is still to be find out as the session was derailed by heavy showers.
Michael Schumacher who is celebrating his 20th Anniversary into Formula One this weekend marked it in a style by being fastest in the first session and with special Gold plated helmet he was wearing.
Jenson Button in 3rd was the first one to put up a decent lap in all wet conditions. Virtually he was the lead driver on track. Mclaren has boosted their performance with a new KERS system which will assure them to have a full on Qualifying session.
World Champion Sebastian Vettel was 4th on the time sheet. Lewis Hamilton who ride on the aquaplaned earlier on intermediates finished the session 5th fastest.
As the heavy rain tries to ease off and no shower was predicted for the rest of the session, Bruno Senna and Paul Di Resta instead of improving their lap times hit the barriers to halt the session. Di Resta taps the barriers in Turn 9.
Meanwhile, Force India announced Nico Hulkenberg to drive for them in the Free Practice Session 2. This will be the first outing of Hulk in the second session this season with Force India.
Adrian Sutil finished 6th followed by Felipe Massa in the lead Ferrari. Rubens Barrichello was 8th in Williams and Jaime Alguersuari was 9th in Toro Rosso. Japanese Kamui Kobayashi was 10th followed by the two time world champion Fernando Alonso. It seems that Ferrari are again struggling in the wet conditions.
Sergio Perez was 12th and Jarno Trulli did a good job in the Lotus to bring it on 13th. Sebastien Buemi and Pastor Maldonando followed him.
Mark Webber who was unabled to improve his lap time in the drying condition ended up the session in 16th followed by the backmarkers of Glock, Liuzzi, Ambrosio.
Paul Di Resta after the accident ended up 20th. This was his first outing at Belgian Spa and he was little nervous also from the 'Eau Rouge'
Indian Driver Karun Chandhok finished 20th in the Lotus followed by both the Renaults.
Bruno Senna has been given a chance to drive for Renault in this race weekend as he replaces Nick Heidfeld. They both are driving the seat of injured Robert Kubica. It is presumed that Bruno will drive for rest of the season. But at the moment it has been confirmed for only Spa and Monza.
Daniel Ricciardo in HRT was last.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 1min 54.355sec | 13 | |
| 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 1min 54.829sec | 0.474 | 15 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | Mclaren - Mercedes | 2min 02.740sec | 8.385 | 8 |
| 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault | 2min 03.752sec | 9.397 | 10 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mclaren - Mercedes | 2min 04.301sec | 9.946 | 7 |
| 6 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes | 2min 04.663sec | 10.308 | 18 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 2min 04.728sec | 10.373 | 10 |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams - Cosworth | 2min 05.391sec | 11.036 | 12 |
| 9 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR - Ferrari | 2min 06.583sec | 12.228 | 16 |
| 10 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber - Ferrari | 2min 06.886sec | 12.531 | 15 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2min 07.055sec | 12.700 | 12 |
| 12 | Sergio Perez |
Sauber - Ferrari | 2min 07.481sec | 13.126 | 15 |
| 13 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus - Renault | 2min 08.233sec | 13.878 | 14 |
| 14 | Sebastien Buemi | STR - Ferrari | 2min 08.239sec | 13.884 | 14 |
| 15 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams - Cosworth | 2min 08.918sec | 14.563 | 10 |
| 16 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault | 2min 09.792sec | 15.437 | 8 |
| 17 | Timo Glock | Virgin - Cosworth | 2min 12.278sec | 17.923 | 13 |
| 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT - Cosworth | 2min 12.389sec | 18.034 | 10 |
| 19 | Jerome d'Ambrosio | Virgin - Cosworth | 2min 12.772sec | 18.417 | 13 |
| 20 | Paul Di Resta | Force India - Mercedes | 2min 13.058sec | 18.703 | 8 |
| 21 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus - Renault | 2min 13.090sec | 18.735 | 11 |
| 22 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 2min 13.601sec | 19.246 | 10 |
| 23 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 2min 14.340sec | 19.985 | 7 |
| 24 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT - Cosworth | 2min 14.933sec | 20.578 | 11 |