Mark Webber struck an early psychological advantage for Red Bull on Friday by topping the timesheets from Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button after the second session of free practice at Spa.
After the torrential rain of the morning session, conditions improved markedly for the start of the second session and the circuit saw a flurry of activity from the outset. As the conditions and track temperature improved, so the lap times tumbled with Michael Schumacher, Button, Alonso and Webber all trading blows at the top.
Spa being Spa, however, the rain did not stay away for long and it returned with half an hour of the session remaining but not before Webber leapfrogged Alonso and Button at the top of the times. That, effectively, put an end to the day's meaningful running but teams enjoyed a long enough window of opportunity to experiment with balance and car set-up on slick, intermediate and wet tyres.
Lewis Hamilton finished the session fourth fastest ahead of Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg. Schumacher, who finished the first session on top, was 11th fastest just behind Sebastian Vettel.
The top teams were closely matched, as half a second separated Webber in first from Hamilton in fourth around the 110 second lap, while Rosberg in sixth was within a second of the headline pace. The times are still not fully reliable though, as those who were last on track before the rain came enjoyed the best conditions, and not everyone got time on the soft tyre.
Paul di Resta recovered from his morning accident to record the ninth fastest time despite only completing nine laps, while Bruno Senna was 17th quickest - 3.5s off the pace - while enjoying a much more productive afternoon and clocking up 21 laps.
Despite being unable to improve on the earlier times, most drivers went out late in the session to gauge conditions and carry out practice starts in the rain, as a wet qualifying session is forecast and the threat of rain never relents in the Ardennes forest. There were spins for Heikki Kovalainen and Timo Glock, as well as numerous off-track excursions as drivers looked for the limit in the damp conditions.
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