Lewis Hamilton tops practice ahead of Belgian grand prix
Lewis Hamilton's resurgence continued on his favourite track as the reigning world champion topped practice ahead of the Belgian grand prix on Sunday.
The first session was disrupted by rain for an hour, but the drivers were able to complete a dry run in the afternoon. With virtually every driver completing around 30 laps, the lead changed hands several times during the 90 minutes before Hamilton emerged in front.
After his victory in Hungary and second-placed finish on Sunday in Valencia at the European grand prix, the 24-year-old is will be hoping for a podium finish for a third successive race.
Hamilton topped the timesheets in his McLaren with a lap of 1min 47.201sec around the renowned 4.5-mile Spa circuit. The unpredictability of the track resulted in the top-six places being filled by drivers from six different teams.
Toyota's Timo Glock was a surprising second quickest, given his team's problems of late, just 0.016sec behind Hamilton, with Kimi Raikkonen third in his Ferrari, 0.084sec adrift.
The Finn ended the session being helped off the track by marshals after running on to the grass at the right-hand Fagnes turn. Red Bull's Mark Webber, Renault rookie Romain Grosjean and Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella completed the top six, followed by the second Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Sebastian Vettel, who sat out the first session to preserve engines after blowing two Renault powerplants in Valencia, finished 10th, completing 25 laps.
Of possible concern to Brawn GP is their duo of championship leader Jenson Button and team-mate Rubens Barrichello were 17th and 18th, both just under a second behind Hamilton. Brawn had expressed confidence earlier this week they had resolved the tyre issues that had affected their running in lower temperatures. But if the evidence of today is anything to go by, it would appear that is far from the case, unless the duo were sandbagging.
Luca Badoer finished two seconds behind Hamilton in his Ferrari. The 38-year-old, knowing he must improve on his calamitous display in Valencia, stopped the session early on as his car lost its left-front wheel fairing, depositing it on the racing line, forcing race director Charlie Whiting to halt proceedings temporarily whilst it was retrieved.
In the morning, the capricious nature of the Ardennes region took hold as sunshine had been forecast, only for the rain to render the first session virtually irrelevant. It was underlined by the fact eight seconds separated 10th-placed Badoer from Fisichella. That was a clear indicator of those who had taken to the track when it was dry early on, and those who had clocked a time in the wet.
Trulli finished top with a time of 1min 49.675sec, followed by Button and Fernando Alonso in his Renault. Like Vettel, Hamilton was the only other driver not to post a time.