WilliamsF1 9th & 12th after first Belgian practice

With the Formula One teams making a popular return to the Spa-Francorchamps circuit the opening Friday practice would get under way. Rain had fallen overnight, and was forecast for the weekend.

The first driver to go out was Jordan's Timo Glock. He would quickly be joined by a large number of cars, twenty one of twenty five, all out for their installation lap. The first driver out to set a quick lap time was BMW WilliamsF1's Antonio Pizzonia. Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya would follow him on his lap. Pizzonia would move to the top of the times with a 1m:51.338. Juan Pablo would cross the line with a 1m:48.382 giving us a WilliamsF1 one-two, but it was early in the session. The FW26 had new aerodynamic modifications around the rear end of the car.

Toyota's Ryan Briscoe would set a time of 1m:54.729, with Glock setting a time of 1m:54.785. Jaguar's Bjorn Wirdheim would move into second, a time of 1m:51.192. Both Briscoe and Glock would improve with times of 1m:51.344 and 1m:52.686 respectively. Minardi's Bas Leinders was also out on the track. Briscoe would improve with a 1m:49.360 to now be in second. Neither Ferrari or BAR had sent their drivers out. Jaguar's Mark Webber would move into fourth with a 1m:48.789.

BAR's Anthony Davidson would go out and would quickly move to the top of the times with a 1m:47.437, only to be beaten by Antonio with a 1m:47.083. Nick Heidfeld was ninth and Zsolt Baumgartner eleventh. Jordan's Pantano would lose control of his car at the Epingle, spinning off track. It appeared that he may have had an engine failure as he put his car into his garage. But he would return to the track later in the session.

Both WilliamsF1 drivers would be making use of the session with longer runs as they work through their normal schedule. Giancarlo Fisichella would move into tenth, with a 1m:51.082. Toyota's Ricardo Zonta would move into fifth with a 1m:48.642. Fisichella would improve with a 1m:48.727 to be behind Zonta. Renault's Fernando Alonso would jump up the order to be fifth with a 1m:48.489. Now it was the turn of Michael Schumacher to set a time and he would
go fastest with a 1m:47.005.

Alonso would go second with a 1m:47.244. Sauber's Felipe Massa was now in fifth with a 1m:48.213. Rubens Barrichello could only manage eleventh on his first run, a time of 1m:49.248. With twenty minutes left Michael would come out and set a time that would leave his rivals behind by over a second, a 1m:45.408. Rubens would improve to join Michael at the front, been second with a time of 1m:46.192. Button would go sixth fastest with a 1m:47.989.

Rubens would close the gap to Michael with a time of 1m:45.855. Ryan Briscoe would now be in ninth, a time of 1m:48.008. Webber goes third, a 1m:46.782. But it would be BAR's Anthony Davidson who would go fastest with a time of 1m:45.104. He was behind Michael after the first two sectors but would reverse that by the end of the lap.

With fifteen minutes remaining McLaren's David Coulthard would set his first time, a 1m:47.858 to be twelfth. It would become apparent during the session that many of the drivers were having problems with the new Bus Stop chicane. Coulthard would improve to ninth while team-mate Raikkonen would make an appearance on the circuit. It still looks like the McLaren's are limiting their time out on the track. Kimi would move into fourth with a time of 1m:46.674.

With five minutes of the session remaining BAR's Takuma Sato would finally come out onto the track. He would move into eleventh with a 1m:47.618. Michael would make his final run and he would not improve. For Juan Pablo his session would see him way down the order. He would improve from fifteenth to be eleventh with a time of 1m:47.560. Team-mate Pizzonia was in ninth. Klein would go eighth fastest.