Free 1: Trulli by default

Jarno Trulli is certainly the driver whose best time during free practice this season will provide the least lessons. Usually, the two sessions on Friday are an opportunity to tune the cars and test certain developments, the classification of these sessions giving only a vague overview of the forces present. At Spa-Francorchamps, the rain made this ranking unusable, with only ten drivers having achieved a time on a dry track.

As is often the case, pilots Toro Rosso were the most diligent at the start of the session, Jaime Alguersuari chaining the laps in order to further increase his experience of the F1. The Spanish driver was thus at the top of the list for several minutes. After several fast laps, the Spaniard can count on a convincing time (1:51:529).

Shortly after, four drivers followed suit and moved ahead of him in the standings and it was Jarno Trulli who set the best time. The Italian driver is the only one to go below 1?? (50?1??49) as the first drops begin to fall. Only ten drivers set a time at that time, the others having only completed installation laps.

The drivers then set off on rain tires to test the wet conditions of the Ardennes track. Alguersuari and Badoer were the first to set off, achieving times twenty seconds off the best time. Buemi gets caught on a buzzer and makes a mistake, lightly touching the wall with his snout.

Romain Grosjean, after an installation lap at the start of the session, achieved his first time in the rain (2:10:432), before improving. Perhaps galvanized by the rumors that sent him into the seat of Badoer?s F60 at Monza, Fisichella posted an excellent time in the rain (2??03??972). Kovalainen, who came out at the end of the session, missed a turn but avoided the impact on the protective wall.

In the last minutes of the session, several drivers set times around 125 seconds, except Lewis Hamilton et Sebastian Vettel, who finished the session with no time recorded on the scorer's table. It is therefore Jarno Trulli who keeps his best time, the track having dried out very little at the end of the session. But, for the establishment of a clear hierarchy, the next sessions should be more informative.