Good progress for Sauber
After a totally wet practice in the morning with some heavy downpours, the 2nd free practice for the Belgian GP was held in mixed conditions. About half way through the second session the drivers were changing from full wet tyres to intermediates, and in the end the conditions were even okay for slicks.
Both cars and drivers performed well and the cars carried two more sponsor logos than in the last race four weeks ago – Burger King and new partner, Mad Croc.
Pedro de la Rosa:
C29.03 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 14th / 2:03.851 (17 laps) / 2nd Practice: 8th / 1:50.081 min (27 laps)
“Given the track conditions we managed to complete a lot of work including some dry running, which was very important for me as I haven’t raced here for some years. To get this chance was a bonus as we didn’t expect it. In the fully wet conditions we were pretty competitive. My conclusion from the afternoon’s session is we are good in the fast sectors one and three, but have to find something to improve the car for the middle sector. I’m very much looking forward to tomorrow and I’m curious to see what the weather will do.“
Kamui Kobayashi:
C29.01 / Ferrari 056
1st Practice: 8th / 2:03.401 min (17 laps) / 2nd Practice: 10th / 1:50.200 min (24 laps)
“Overall it was okay for me today. We had no technical problems and quite a variety of different track conditions, which means you can learn a lot about the car and the track. In the wet my lap time was okay, but the tyres didn’t last long and that makes it difficult to judge where we are and where we should go. It is not easy to set up the car for tomorrow as here in Spa you basically can never know what the weather will finally be like. Nevertheless I have a good feeling for the car and the track.”
James Key, Technical Director: “It was obviously a very eventful day with extremely changeable weather conditions. However, it was useful with the two different sessions we had because it allowed both drivers and the team to evaluate the tyres in all conditions. We could also test different set-ups and wing settings. I think both drivers did a good job in the circumstances, as did the team. We had to change the car quite a bit to match the changing situations. It looks okay, but it’s extremely difficult to judge where everyone is, because the conditions were never consistent. Therefore we need to be cautious not to make too many judgements from today’s classification. However, we can be happy with what we have done so far. We made quite good progress. It’s now a case of sitting down and analysing the data to make the right decisions for tomorrow.”
