Tyres performed very well on first day of running

Fernando Alonso (McLaren Mercedes) used Bridgestone's soft compound Potenza to set the fastest time in Friday's running at Spa Francorchamps for this weekend's ING Belgian Grand Prix.

Alonso put in a time of 1min 46.654secs in the latter half of the afternoon 90-minute practice session to be the fastest driver by just over a tenth from team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who also set his fastest time on the soft compound Potenza tyre.

The morning practice session saw Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) fastest, with a lap time of 1min 47.339secs and Hamilton second quickest, over half a second adrift. Given the nature of this circuit as the longest on the F1 calendar, there was a greater gap covering the field, with the slowest car just over four seconds off the pace of the fastest.

The circuit basked in uncharacteristic blue skies and sunshine, although temperatures were cooler than experienced at the majority of Grands Prix this year.

Kees van de Grint, Bridgestone Motorsport Head of Track Engineering Operations said:
"It was quite an unusual Friday practice session in many respects. We did not have the usual rain in Spa and also the tyres performed very well for what is the first day of running. The appearance of the tyres was particularly good and we did not see the graining we would usually associate with Friday's running. However, we should not sing our praises before the chequered flag as we still have two days to run yet. The grip levels from the track today were quite low. The soft compound provided a faster lap time of more than half a second, if the car and driver could get the full benefit from the extra grip it provided, but it was critical to get the optimum lap."