Kobayashi fastest in the rain at Spa
F1 Grand Prix, GP Belgium, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Kamui Kobayashi posted the fastest time in FP1 on Thursday ahead of Maldonado and Ricciardo. Heavy rain fell throughout the session with many teams only posting a few installation laps. Despite several slides and excursions off track due to the rain, the only casualty was an engine failure on Massa's Ferrari.
The heavy rain means there is little to learn from the lap times.
Some technical updates have been spotted, Lotus are running their new DDRS. Also McLaren have extended the sidepod barge board to wrap over the top of the side pod instead of the flow conditioning vanes.
Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:11.389 | - | 20 |
| 2 | 18 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 2:11.941 | 0.552 | 14 |
| 3 | 16 | Daniel Ricciardo | Str-Ferrari | 2:12.004 | 0.615 | 12 |
| 4 | 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Str-Ferrari | 2:12.824 | 1.435 | 15 |
| 5 | 2 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 2:13.191 | 1.802 | 13 |
| 6 | 15 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:13.861 | 2.472 | 16 |
| 7 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 2:14.210 | 2.821 | 14 |
| 8 | 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 2:14.660 | 3.271 | 16 |
| 9 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 2:14.860 | 3.471 | 12 |
| 10 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 2:15.402 | 4.013 | 13 |
| 11 | 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2:15.812 | 4.423 | 11 |
| 12 | 24 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:16.409 | 5.020 | 16 |
| 13 | 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 2:16.786 | 5.397 | 10 |
| 14 | 21 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 2:16.788 | 5.399 | 16 |
| 15 | 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:16.827 | 5.438 | 5 |
| 16 | 3 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:16.861 | 5.472 | 8 |
| 17 | 25 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:17.519 | 6.130 | 14 |
| 18 | 20 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 2:18.199 | 6.810 | 10 |
| 19 | 22 | Pedro de la Rosa | Hrt-Cosworth | 2:19.546 | 8.157 | 12 |
| 20 | 23 | Dani Clos | Hrt-Cosworth | 2:19.689 | 8.300 | 12 |
| 21 | 10 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 2:38.701 | 27.312 | 9 |
| 22 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2:40.749 | 29.360 | 4 |
| 23 | 9 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 2:46.580 | 35.191 | 9 |
| 24 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | No time | - | 2 |
