Reuters/Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil drives during the second practice session of the Belgian F1 Grand Prix in Spa Francorchamps yesterday

Steady rain washed out Belgian Grand Prix practice yesterday with Formula One fans huddled under umbrellas in the forests and gazing at a deserted track while drivers took shelter in the garages.
The afternoon session ended without a timed lap on the board, although some extremely slow times were registered on the screens after drivers went out to perform practice standing starts on the grid at the finish.
Marussia’s French rookie Charles Pic was top of that list, almost certainly the only time this year that the tail-ender will find himself in such a position, with a time of two minutes 49.354 seconds.
“It’s a shame for fans around the track - it’s quite windy and probably not so nice out on the grandstands,” said Red Bull’s double world champion Sebastian Vettel.
“Hopefully they can come back tomorrow with dry clothes and we’ll have some sunshine - that’s the forecast anyway. You can’t race in these conditions, as the tyres can’t get rid of the water.”
The lack of afternoon activity meant Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi could claim the fastest lap (a 2:11.389 in the morning session) by any driver in August - an easy feat given that yesterday was the first running since the end of July when the holiday break started.
Ferrari’s championship leader Fernando Alonso, who has a 40 point lead over Australian Mark Webber after 11 of the 20 races, spent most of the afternoon as a spectator as teams gave up attempts to test new developments.
Alonso had been 22nd in the morning with a time 29.360 seconds slower than Kobayashi.
“We won’t see until tomorrow how good the upgrades are working,” said McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. “That’s the challenge, everyone is in the same boat so it’s going to be very interesting trying to find the correct set up in the short space of time we’ll have tomorrow.”
While commentators padded furiously to make up for the lack of track action, teams and drivers kept themselves amused on social network Twitter.
“Someone’s fired up an engine. Probably just trying to keep warm,” commented @redbullf1spy from somewhere in the paddock where temperatures hovered around 11 degrees Celsius.
Hamilton posted a picture of his boots and team mate Jenson Button joked he might have to get his triathlon wetsuit out.