Free 2: Charles Pic fastest in uneventful second practice at Spa

The highly treacherous weather conditions continued throughout the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, with the rain continuing to pound the legendary Spa-Francorchamps. This lead to a highly uneventful 90 minute session, with hardly any track action all session.

However, as the drivers lined-up to complete their practice starts at the end of the session, it became apparent that the Marussia of Charles Pic had set the fastest time, albeit starting it from the pit-lane in an unorthodox end to a highly unconventional practice session.

Both first practice earlier in the morning and the GP2 Series practice session were run in exceedingly tricky conditions, with aquaplaning a realistic threat throughout the lap. 30 minutes into the second practice session, and still no cars had ventured into the practically undriveable conditions out on the track. This eventually changed after roughly 48 minutes of inactivity, when Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finally left the dry confines of the pits.

However, as glorious as it was to see Formula 1 cars circulating out on track, no times were set as both Rosberg and Schumacher returned to the pits after each lap to carry out a practice start within their pit box. This form of testing carried on for several laps, before both drivers once again returned to the paddock.

After the Mercedes duo took to the track, several other teams also opted to carry out the same procedure. Heikki Kovalainen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button were amongst many who took to the track only to return to the pits after every lap to carry out a practice start. Felipe Massa returned to the track after his unfortunate engine failure towards the end of the opening practice session, after his Ferrari mechanics worked tirelessly to fix the issue.

With the rain not easing throughout the session, many drivers simply tip-toed around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit, cautiously avoiding aquaplaning and possibly damaging their cars. The session gradually got busier towards the end of the 90 minutes, as the likes of Fernando Alonso and Pastor Maldonado also carried out the procedure of completing a lap and then returning to the pits for a practice start.

The weather is forecast to vastly improve for tomorrow’s final practice session and the all-important qualifying session, something which all the teams and drivers will be praying for as they review the data they have acquired during today’s washout ahead of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

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