Webber concludes Spa practice on top

Practice for the Belgian Grand Prix resumed this morning under cloudy skies broken by some rays of sunshine.

Eager to get more dry-track running, after a mostly wet first day of practice, the drivers immediately left the pitlane as the light went green. They all did an installation lap to sample the conditions and went back into the pits for a chat with their engineers.

It didn’t take long for most of the field to kick off some serious running. Lap times quickly fell down as the track conditions got better. Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Sebastian Vettel and Adrian Sutil all appeared on top of the timesheet at some point through the first third of the session.

Robert Kubica took over at the front shortly before the midway point but was almost immediately demoted to 2nd by Hamilton. Halfway through the session, the McLaren driver was still leading from Kubica. Webber was up to 3rd. Both Ferraris of Alonso and Massa were completing the top five.

Webber further improved and went fastest with a 1’46’’106, as rain was looming. Vettel went out for a second run but encountered mechanical problems which forced him to cut it short. Rain eventually started to fall with fifteen minutes remaining, prompting all the drivers to retreat in the garages.

A few drivers came out in the final part of the session but there was not much action. The order remained obviously unchanged and Webber concluded practice on top. Lewis Hamilton was 2nd fastest, Vettel third. Button and Kubica completed the top five.

Less than one second separated the top eight drivers.