Trulli tops wet first practice at Spa

Jarno Trulli was the man at the top of the timesheets when the chequered flag fell for the first practice session in Belgium on Friday. Times are very much inaccurate, however, after an early rain shower continued for the remainder of the one and half hour period. Championship leader Jenson Button finished in second position.

With only a one-week break between the European and Belgian Grands Prix, first free practice kicked off in the Ardennes forests on Friday morning as the crucial twelfth weekend of the 2009 championship began. With rain coming approximately 15 minutes in, even lap times set in the scarce dry conditions available are still off the expected pace of Saturday.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel completed just one installation lap at the beginning of the session as the German, who has only two new engines remaining for the final six races of the season, ran with a previously used Renault powerplant; the rain was good news for the fourth placed driver in the championship, however, as the lack of dry running for the rest of the field could play into his hands on a circuit which Red Bull is tipped to be quickest on.

Track temperatures reached lows of just 17°C (63°F) as the rain fell, less than half of those witnessed five days ago in Valencia, with ambient numbers two down on that. Trulli's Toyota led the way with a lap time of 1:49.675, four and a half seconds off Kimi Räikkönen's official 2004 lap record, as those who ventured out after the rain started failed to come near the 2-minute barrier.

Behind Trulli at the top was championship leader Jenson Button on another crucial weekend for Brawn GP as former double World Champion Fernando Alonso rounded out the top three. The two Toro Rossos of Buemi and Alguersuari made the top five with the second Brawn of Barrichello ahead of Räikkönen and Kovalainen, the latter of which narrowly avoided the Rivage barriers after a trip through the gravel trap.

Buemi's Toro Rosso had the largest moment of the session after running out wide onto the Pouhon kerbs with a resultant spin causing an impromptu trip into the barriers; the Swiss driver was able to recover to the pits with a damaged front wing but no other major worries.

Robert Kubica was the leading BMW in ninth as the Ferrari of Luca Badoer placed tenth despite his own small off-track moment at Les Combes on the Italian's first flying lap. Both Vettel and World Champion Lewis Hamilton chose not to set lap times and remained in the pit lane for most of the 90 minutes.

More rain could fall in the afternoon session, which begins at 2pm local time (BST +1 / GMT +2) and can be followed as it happens courtesy of GPUpdate.net's live report.


Source: GP Update