Alonso quickest in rain at Spa

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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.

Belgian Grand Prix practice
in pictures

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 Hulkenberg 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

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    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...

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    9 comments on “Alonso quickest in rain at Spa”

    1. Todfod
      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.

      1. BasCB
        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.

        1. Mike
          27th August 2010, 15:38

          Massa doesn’t seem to work well in the wet, so maybe that’s a factor there…

    2. HounslowBusGarage
      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!

      1. BasCB
        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.

      2. Profile Photo

        karan01 (@karan01)
        27th August 2010, 13:44

        I know right!! I couldn’t find a live stream anywhere! Argh I am so MADD

    3. bbt
      27th August 2010, 13:21

      Is there any sign of wing flexing?

    4. DaveW
      27th August 2010, 15:11

      The rain-masters to the fore

    5. Profile Photo

      wasiF1 (@wasif1)
      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.

    Comments are closed.