Alonso fastest again in second session

Posted on

| Written by

Fernando Alonso maintained his position at the top of the time sheets in the second session at Spa-Francorchamps.

But the session was disrupted for ten minutes as race control were concerned that some spectators had got into a dangerous area.

After the stoppage the teams had just a few minutes to complete their running on the quick-drying track.

The teams began practice on full wet tyres but quickly switched to intermediates and then slicks as the sun emerged and helped dry the track.

Jaime Alguersuari was the first driver to try slicks and posted an improvement of almost three seconds when he did. The Toro Rosso driver was swiftly followed by a host of others as the track conditions improved.

The slippery track caught out two drivers within seconds of each other. Vitantonio Liuzzi ran across the run-off and into the barrier at Rivage but was able to reverse out and return to the pits.

But Timo Glock’s crash in his Virgin one corner further around the track was a harder impact. His day’s work was over after just three laps.

Heading into the final quarter of an hour Adrian Sutil was fastest, the Force India showing good pace around Spa once again.

Then came the strange ten-minute interruption as the session was red-flagged and race director Charlie Whiting dispatched onto the circuit in a course car to check that none of the fans were standing where they shouldn’t.

When the session re-started almost all the cars queued up to get in one final flying lap. The Ferrari duo went around nose-to-tail, closely matched over the first sector but Alonso pulling out 0.6s over his team mate through the twisty middle part of the lap.

Sutil took third fastest time while Lewis Hamilton went third, two-tenths off Alonso’s best.

Pos.CarDriverCarBest lapGapLaps
18Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’49.03225
214Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’49.1570.12517
32Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’49.2480.21614
411Robert KubicaRenault1’49.2820.25020
57Felipe MassaFerrari1’49.5880.55623
65Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’49.6890.65719
71Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’49.7550.72320
822Pedro de la RosaSauber-Ferrari1’50.0811.04927
99Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’50.1281.09622
1023Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’50.2001.16824
1112Vitaly PetrovRenault1’50.2511.21924
123Michael SchumacherMercedes1’50.3411.30923
134Nico RosbergMercedes1’50.3821.35021
1417Jaime AlguersuariToro Rosso-Ferrari1’50.6821.65025
1510Nico HulkenbergWilliams-Cosworth1’50.8311.79920
1615Vitantonio LiuzziForce India-Mercedes1’51.5202.48817
1716Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’51.5232.49125
186Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’51.6362.60419
1919Heikki KovalainenLotus-Cosworth1’53.4804.44815
2018Jarno TrulliLotus-Cosworth1’53.6394.60721
2125Lucas di GrassiVirgin-Cosworth1’54.3255.29317
2221Bruno SennaHRT-Cosworth1’55.7516.71924
2320Sakon YamamotoHRT-Cosworth1’56.0397.00721
2424Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth2’03.17914.1473

2010 Belgian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 Belgian Grand Prix articles

    Image (C) Ferrari spa

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

    Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

    32 comments on “Alonso fastest again in second session”

    1. Seems a lot happened in the end but what really happened?

      1. Red flag for kids climbing a fence apparently, followed by one flying lap of all the drivers, half of them pretty much cueing and suffering in traffic.
        Yamamoto also managed to go of track in his last flying lap and caused another yellow flag.

        1. Yes, that must have helped a lot of people, if they hadn’t been stuck in traffic (Webber, Button, maybe Sutil, etc.) they wouldn’t have been able to do a fast lap anyway due to Sakon Y.

      2. Apparently kids were climbing a fence – not sure why no one just told them (and parents) to cut it out and get them escorted away for a stern talking too by the “guards with guns and all and big, fierce, angry dogs” that BBC 5live mentioned.

    2. “Sutil took third fastest time while Lewis Hamilton went third”

      1. Wasn’t Sutil’s 2nd place from timing before the red flag?

        1. No, he did it right in the end. He set the fastest 1st sector, then came up to Tonio Liuzzi in the second sector, losing quite a bit of time and then making up time again with a very good 3rd sector.

    3. I missed quite a lot of the session between telephone calls. But i did see Alonso’s first lap on the intermediates and Alguersuari’s on slicks as well as Webber feeling engine worries, Tonio and Timo dropping it on slicks after more rain dropped on their patch of track and the mad dash in the end with all cars out.

      Looks like Alonso is genuinly fast, Massa might have a bit different setup, anyhow he lost it in the second sector in that lap. Sutil was very fast, only he had to get past his team mate which lost him time.
      Webber and Hamilton, Button and Vettel were in the middle of traffic as well, so their times don’t really count.
      Might be very interesting for tomorrow and for the race on sunday.
      Looks pretty exiting

    4. But the session was disrupted for ten minutes as race control were concerned that some spectators had got into a dangerous area.

      What – Brussels?

      *rim shot*

    5. These is pretty spare data but could we be in for a Force India shocker again?

    6. who else thought charlie whiting in the rarely seen course car brought an eerily feeling to the track? the car had an evil presence with the red lights and all, looking for spectators to catch… >)

    7. I don’t think there is any connection, but cars running Ferrari engines have made the highest number of laps, 25/27.

    8. does this mean Force India have chance in top 5 here ??

    9. i was off work cos of a bad back and i got to enjoy the red button coverage for the first time in a while. karun chandhok is setting himself up for a commentary position, very impressed by him.

      1. If he’s not on track that’s where I’d like him to be. Very impressed by him.

        1. HounslowBusGarage
          27th August 2010, 21:34

          Absolutely agree. The man has talent, knowledge and presence.

    10. Nice to see both Ferrari & Mclaren out there in the top. The qualifying will be great tomorrow.

    11. Sutil took second .. instead of “third” that you’ve mentioned towards the end of your post

    12. “Sutil took third fastest time while Lewis Hamilton went third,.”

      Friendly correction there Keith, Sutil second and HAM third.

    13. HounslowBusGarage
      27th August 2010, 21:39

      Given the ‘challenging’ weather conditions for both sets of practice today, I was really surprised that no one really wrecked into the scenery today. Glock’s excursion and Liuzzi’s reversing trick don’t even qualify.
      I was really amazed that no driver had a mighty off in the changing conditions as they switched tyre grades.
      Hmmm. Must be more skillful than I thought.

    14. Those photos are so dramatic. The Belgian GP with the darkness and the rain as the cars go through the deep forest with those red tailights on.
      Its all so intense in its imagery. This is racing at its best.

    15. I really hope Ferrari don’t keep this up …

      1. why not? (comment too short)

        1. because he’s a hater

          1. but of course :)

      2. Why not?

        Mclaren have their pace so far (slightly faster I would say, Hamilton has set his times when the track was slower and on a lot less laps) and RBR have not showed their hand.

        Looks like a 4 – 5 team fight but that could all change as FP1 and FP2 times mean even less than normal so far.

        1. Because between their behaviour in Germany and their attitude towards the other teams of late, they don’t deserve to be in Formula 1, much less win the titles. They need a season or three at the back to remind themselves where they came from.

          1. If anything mate, it’s fans like you who don’t deserve to be in Formula 1

    16. i’m not sure this is representative times, as Sutil’s times were on hard tires… Ferrari, Mclaren & some other times were on soft tires…. also the times are nearly 5 secs slower than last years fastest qualifying time… that means cars were carrying some fuel… plus the grip levels were not optimum.

    17. What a great quali we are gonna have today. My money is on Fernando taking Ferrari’s first pole of the year.

    18. If everybody is so concerned about some drivers going wide at turn one to gain an advantage, why don’t they put the barrier back up that ran along the edge of the track? It doesn’t really compramise safety

    19. You obviously don’t have a clue MATE!!

    Comments are closed.