Belgian GP: Barrichello ... Mr 300 ninth in FP1

With AT&T Williams driver Rubens Barrichello celebrating his 300th Grand Prix the Williams team would start the opening Friday practice session. The session would start with overcast skies after showers in the early part of the day. The rain had stopped but another shower was expected. With the start of the session there would be the usual line of drivers taking to the circuit for their installation laps. Glock would be first out followed by Alguersuari, Buemi, Yamamoto and Senna. The track was damp with the drivers running on the full wets.

Ruben's team mate Nico Hulkenberg would be the first Williams driver to take to the track. Di Grassi, Kovalainen and de la Rosa were also out on their installation laps. Plumes of spray were coming off the cars as they progressed around the circuit. Rubens would be amongst the last drivers to take to the track. Rubens would complete a practice start at the end of the pit lane. After completing one lap Rubens would pit while the last driver yet to come out was Hamilton. Glock would return to the track as another shower hit the circuit. Hamilton was now out on the track while Glock would set the first time with a 2m:06.752. It was now raining heavily while Di Grassi was next out followed by Vettel. Nico would also come out of his pit along with Webber, Kubica, and Schumacher.

Glock would pit while Buemi was next out, followed by Alguersuari. Webber would pit after one lap while Kobayashi was next out. Sutil and Rosberg were also out on the circuit Di Grassi would set a 2m:12.357 as more drivers left their pits. Vettel was now second with a 2m:09.693. Nico was in fourth with a 2m:25.321. Rosberg and Schumacher had pitted while it would be De la Rosa who went fastest with a 2m:05.845. Buemi was now third from Vettel, Di Grassi, and Nico now sixth. Alguersuari moved ahead of Buemi to be third while Kobayashi went second, 2m:05.881, while Sutil went fastest with a 2m:05.117. Buemi was now second, 2m:05.680, from De la Rosa, Kobayashi, Glock, Alguersuari, Nico, Vettel, and Di Grassi.

Nico's time was a 2m:07.121 as Alguersuari went fastest from Kobayashi. But Sutil would improve with a 2m:03.331. Vettel had pitted while Hamilton took to the track. Nico was on an improved lap moving up to fourth with a 2m:05.075. Rubens had yet to take to the track as De la Rosa moved up to second, 2m:03.851. Hamilton would jump up the order to be second, 2m:03.353, as Nico improved to be third, 2m:03.783. Schumacher and Button were out on the circuit with just under an hour remaining in the session. Hamilton would pit with Sutil still fastest from Hamilton, Nico, De la Rosa, Alguersuari, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Buemi, Glock, Kovalainen, and Vettel in eleventh. Button would move up to eighth, 2m:05.482, while Nico would pit.

Sutil had improved his fastest time with a 2m:02.646, to be 0.707 ahead of Hamilton. Alonso was out on the track along with Webber. Senna would move up to eleventh, 2m:07.737, while Button would improve to now be second, 2m:02.913. Liuzzi was now twelfth, 2m:06.925, but Glock would move ahead of him. Alonso would set a new quickest time with a 2m:02.582. Sutil was now second from Button and Webber. Nico was now sixth while Vettel was back out on the track. Rubens had still yet to set a time as Vettel moved to the top of the times with a 2m:02.450. Massa would move into seventh with a 2m:03.601. So far we had yet to see the two Renault's and Rubens yet to set a time. Kobayashi was now seventh, 2m:03.401.

It was getting quite dark was Schumacher moved into eighth, 2m:03.489. Nico would come back out with forty minutes remaining. Buemi was having a problem with his gearbox while the rain started to come down even heavier. The reason why Rubens had yet to come out was that the team was changing his steering rack. Nico would pit leaving the track quite empty. With De la Rosa returning to his pit the circuit was now empty. with thirty four minutes remaining it was Alonso fastest from Hamilton, Vettel, Sutil, Button, Webber, Kobayashi, Schumacher, Massa, Nico, Rosberg, De la Rosa, and Alguersuari in thirteenth.

With twenty six minutes remaining it was looking quite unlikely that there would be any further action. But Schumacher would go against this and would leave the pit lane joined by Alguersuari. It was still looking very wet with big plumes of spray coming from Schumacher's Mercedes. Schumacher would pit while Kovalainen had also come out. Yamamoto and Petrov would return to the track as the Alguersuari pitted shortly after. Kovalainen would pit while in the Williams garage Rubens was still waiting on his car. The rain was stopping with patches of blue sky being seen. Nico was waiting in his car while Massa took to the track joined by Petrov. Alonso would also come out with just over ten minutes remaining. Nico and De la Rosa would return to the track Other drivers would come out including Glock, Kubica, and Kobayashi. The Mercedes team would pack up finishing their session.

Rubens would finally take to the track as Petrov moved up to fifteenth, 2m:04.950. Kubica was now up to fifth, 2m:02.786. Alonso's quickest time was a 2m:01.223. Hamilton had also previously improved with a 2m:01.567. Rubens would start his first timed lap as the final minutes counted down. Alonso was also on a faster lap as Rubens set a 2m:03.458 to be ninth. Alonso would set a 2m:00.797 as Rubens started another lap. Nico was now in twelfth as Kubica moved up to third with a 2m:02.081. Both Red Bull cars were out on the track as Rubens improved by a few tenths with a 2m:03.424 but remained ninth. Nico's time was a 2m:03.649 as the session came to an end. There was eighteen of twenty four drivers on track at the end of the session. Alonso was still fastest from Kubica, Vettel, Sutil, Button, Webber, Kobayashi, Rubens, and Schumacher in tenth. Nico would
finish in twelfth.

Pos  Driver              Team		        Time       Laps
 1.  Fernando Alonso     Ferrari                2m00.797s  17
 2.  Lewis Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes       2m01.567s  7
 3.  Robert Kubica       Renault                2m02.081s  14
 4.  Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull-Renault       2m02.450s  11
 5.  Adrian Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   2m02.646s  14
 6.  Jenson Button       McLaren-Mercedes       2m02.913s  6
 7.  Mark Webber         Red Bull-Renault       2m02.926s  11
 8.  Kamui Kobayashi     BMW Sauber-Ferrari     2m03.401s  17
 9.  Rubens Barrichello  AT&T Williams-Cosworth 2m03.424s  7
10.  Michael Schumacher  Mercedes               2m03.489s  9
11.  Felipe Massa        Ferrari                2m03.601s  17
12.  Nico Hulkenberg     AT&T Williams-Cosworth 2m03.649s  17
13.  Nico Rosberg        Mercedes               2m03.654s  6
14.  Pedro de la Rosa    BMW Sauber-Ferrari     2m03.851s  17
15.  Vitantonio Liuzzi   Force India-Mercedes   2m04.145s  12
16.  Jaime Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari     2m04.250s  16
17.  Vitaly Petrov       Renault                2m04.690s  15
18.  Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     2m05.680s  6
19.  Timo Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        2m05.697s  18
20.  Lucas di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth        2m06.695s  14
21.  Jarno Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth         2m07.189s  15
22.  Bruno Senna         HRT-Cosworth           2m07.737s  13
23.  Heikki Kovalainen   Lotus-Cosworth         2m07.955s  15
24.  Sakon Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth           2m10.507s  18