Mark Webber has been handed a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change in his Red Bull RB8 on a day where rain hampered running ahead of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Red Bull notified the FIA following the two 90 minute sessions that Webber’s gearbox would need changing prior to Practice 3 on Saturday morning, resulting in the Australian’s second gearbox penalty in just three races.
On track, the weather made for a difficult first day back from the mid-season break for the teams.
Kamui Kobayashi proved both the bravest and the fastest in the morning session, with the Sauber driver the only one to set a flying lap in the opening 45 minutes.
While he was eventually joined on circuit by all of his rivals, Kobayashi’s 2:11.39s best proved enough to top the time sheets ahead of Pastor Maldonado, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne and Webber.
Just 10 drivers went on to complete flying laps in the second 90 minute session, where Charles Pic led the way with a 2:49.35s. Ricciardo, Fernando Alonso, Paul di Resta and Maldonado filled second through fifth.
Felipe Massa was one of a further eight drivers to complete installation laps only in the afternoon. The Brazilian’s Ferrari squad had been forced into an engine change between sessions, but elected not to push for hot laps in the horrendous conditions.
See below for the full Practice 1 result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Retired |
Gap |
Laps |
| 1 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:11.389 | 20 | |
| 2 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 2:11.941 | 0.552 | 14 |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 2:12.004 | 0.615 | 12 |
| 4 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 2:12.824 | 1.435 | 15 |
| 5 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 2:13.191 | 1.802 | 13 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:13.861 | 2.472 | 16 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 2:14.210 | 2.821 | 14 |
| 8 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Renault | 2:14.660 | 3.271 | 16 |
| 9 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 2:14.860 | 3.471 | 12 |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 2:15.402 | 4.013 | 13 |
| 11 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2:15.812 | 4.423 | 11 |
| 12 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:16.409 | 5.020 | 16 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 2:16.786 | 5.397 | 10 |
| 14 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | 2:16.788 | 5.399 | 16 |
| 15 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:16.827 | 5.438 | 5 |
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:16.861 | 5.472 | 8 |
| 17 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:17.519 | 6.130 | 14 |
| 18 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | 2:18.199 | 6.810 | 10 |
| 19 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | 2:19.546 | 8.157 | 12 |
| 20 | Dani Clos | HRT-Cosworth | 2:19.689 | 8.300 | 12 |
| 21 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | 2:38.701 | 27.312 | 9 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2:40.749 | 29.360 | 4 |
| 23 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | 2:46.580 | 35.191 | 9 |
| 24 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | No time | 2 |
See below for the full Practice 2 result
|
Pos |
Driver |
Team |
Time/Retired |
Gap |
Laps |
| 1 | Charles Pic | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:49.354 | 4 | |
| 2 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR-Ferrari | 2:49.750 | 0.396 | 3 |
| 3 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2:50.497 | 1.143 | 3 |
| 4 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2:51.333 | 1.979 | 3 |
| 5 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Renault | 2:51.660 | 2.306 | 4 |
| 6 | Timo Glock | Marussia-Cosworth | 2:52.076 | 2.722 | 4 |
| 7 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:53.232 | 3.878 | 4 |
| 8 | Jean-Eric Vergne | STR-Ferrari | 2:58.232 | 8.878 | 3 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 2:59.125 | 9.771 | 5 |
| 10 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 3:12.901 | 23.547 | 4 |
| 11 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | No time | 3 | |
| 12 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | No time | 4 | |
| 13 | Heikki Kovalainen | Caterham-Renault | No time | 1 | |
| 14 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | No time | 2 | |
| 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | No time | 3 | |
| 16 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | No time | 2 | |
| 17 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | No time | 2 | |
| 18 | Bruno Senna | Williams-Renault | No time | 3 | |
| 19 | Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | No time | 0 | |
| 20 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus-Renault | No time | 0 | |
| 21 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus-Renault | No time | 0 | |
| 22 | Vitaly Petrov | Caterham-Renault | No time | 0 | |
| 23 | Pedro de la Rosa | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 0 | |
| 24 | Narain Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | No time | 0 |
See below for Speedcafe.com’s Belgian Grand Prix Race Guide
