Michael Schumacher admitted it was still a special feeling to be racing on one of his favourite circuits 20 years after he made his grand prix debut for Jordan at Spa Francorchamps.
Schumacher, who has won at Spa on no fewer than six occasions, set the fastest time of the opening practice session after an early dry run and wound up 11th quickest in the second practice session.
"It was a special feeling to be out on track today for the first practice sessions of this anniversary weekend in Spa," said Schumacher. "A lot of things have changed here in the past twenty years, but the weather certainly hasn't! Today was another typical Spa day, with mixed conditions and very little dry running.
"The conditions meant that we couldn't do much work on the set-up, although we made the most of the limited time when the circuit was dry. Even so, it will be tricky to find the right set-up compromise for Sunday, because the weather here is always so unpredictable."
Although persistent rain meant that much of the day's running was in wet conditions, team boss Ross Brawn said that there was enough of a window to learn about car set-up in all conditions.
"We managed to run well in the limited dry windows and learned a lot about the balance of the car in dry conditions," said Brawn. "The challenge for Sunday will be whether to favour a wet or dry set-up, so we will need to see how the weather develops tomorrow. We will then focus on what we expect to experience in the race, rather than the qualifying conditions.
"This is a track which responds very strongly to high downforce in the wet but it can be quite a disadvantage in the dry. Overall, today has seen a good day's work with the cars functioning well."
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