Alonso quickest in rain at Spa
Fernando Alonso headed the first F1 practice session at a very wet Spa-Francorchamps.
The track was already well-doused before practice even begun and further rain during the 90 minutes sent the cars back into the pits on several occasions.
The rain stopped and the sun came out before the chequered flag fell, allowing Alonso to get in a final flying lap to improve his best time by half a second to 2’00.797.
Lewis Hamilton was second fastest, almost eight tenths of a second slower than the Ferrari.
Renault ran their F-duct for the first time and Robert Kubica waited until the final minutes before putting in his quickest time, a 2’02.081 which put him third.
Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil made it five different cars in the top five, with Jenson Button sixth having done just six laps in his McLaren.
Rubens Barrichello was ninth as he began his 300th Grand Prix weekend with a special message on the airbox of his car. Michael Schumacher was tenth ahead of Felipe Massa, who nearly lost control of his car at the exit of Paul Frere curve at the end of the session.
Timo Glock was the fastest of the new teams’ drivers, just 0.017s slower than Sebastien Buemi. However the Toro Rosso driver missed much of the session with gearbox problems.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Car | Best lap | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 8 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2’00.797 | 17 | |
| 2 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2’01.567 | 0.770 | 7 |
| 3 | 11 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 2’02.081 | 1.284 | 14 |
| 4 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | 2’02.450 | 1.653 | 11 |
| 5 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 2’02.646 | 1.849 | 14 |
| 6 | 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2’02.913 | 2.116 | 6 |
| 7 | 6 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 2’02.926 | 2.129 | 11 |
| 8 | 23 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’03.401 | 2.604 | 17 |
| 9 | 9 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 2’03.424 | 2.627 | 7 |
| 10 | 3 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 2’03.489 | 2.692 | 9 |
| 11 | 7 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 2’03.601 | 2.804 | 17 |
| 12 | 10 | Nico Hülkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 2’03.649 | 2.852 | 17 |
| 13 | 4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 2’03.654 | 2.857 | 6 |
| 14 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Sauber-Ferrari | 2’03.851 | 3.054 | 17 |
| 15 | 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 2’04.145 | 3.348 | 12 |
| 16 | 17 | Jaime Alguersuari | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2’04.250 | 3.453 | 16 |
| 17 | 12 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 2’04.690 | 3.893 | 15 |
| 18 | 16 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 2’05.680 | 4.883 | 6 |
| 19 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 2’05.697 | 4.900 | 18 |
| 20 | 25 | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 2’06.695 | 5.898 | 14 |
| 21 | 18 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’07.189 | 6.392 | 15 |
| 22 | 21 | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 2’07.737 | 6.940 | 13 |
| 23 | 19 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 2’07.955 | 7.158 | 15 |
| 24 | 20 | Sakon Yamamoto | HRT-Cosworth | 2’10.507 | 9.710 | 18 |
2010 Belgian Grand Prix
- Technical review: Belgian Grand Prix
- From the stands: Carol Treurnicht watches the Belgian GP at Spa
- Liuzzi: “I’d have passed Alguersuari easily”
- Button denies braking early in Vettel crash
- Hamilton “wasn’t pushing” when he went off
- 2010 Belgian Grand Prix – the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Who was the best driver of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend?
- Damage limitation for Webber – but not Vettel (Red Bull race review)
- Ferrari’s practice pace disappears on Sunday (Ferrari race review)
- Renault’s latest upgrade gives Kubica a shot at victory (Renault race review)
Image (C) Ferrari spa
Todfod said on 27th August 2010, 12:34
Ferrari might be putting both their drivers on different configuration runs, but if they weren’t, Fernando really did demolish his teammate… and pretty much most of the field.
BasCB said on 27th August 2010, 12:49
I suppose it was just improving track conditions for Alonso and Massa losing the car at the end that make for large the difference.
Mike said on 27th August 2010, 15:38
Massa doesn’t seem to work well in the wet, so maybe that’s a factor there…
HounslowBusGarage said on 27th August 2010, 12:49
What a frustrating session for me. I couldn’t get onto the F1 Fanatic site and the BBC feed disappeared!
BasCB said on 27th August 2010, 12:53
I just watched a Polish stream, the only one i could find working (F1 Fanatic not working for me as well this morning, and the BBC unavailable from outside the UK), until my connection failed and i had to get it working again.
But with how wet it was, there was not that much too see anyway.
karan01 (@karan01) said on 27th August 2010, 13:44
I know right!! I couldn’t find a live stream anywhere! Argh I am so MADD
bbt said on 27th August 2010, 13:21
Is there any sign of wing flexing?
DaveW said on 27th August 2010, 15:11
The rain-masters to the fore
wasiF1 (@wasif1) said on 27th August 2010, 17:20
If it rains on Sunday & Saturday then Ferrari are in a very strong position to do a good result this weekend.