It set the scene for a very quiet morning on the track, but Jaime Alguersuari made the most of the opportunity by fitting a set of wet tires and getting his first experience of F1 action in heavy rain.

"Spa is the best circuit in the world but it has the worst weather, you never know what is going to happen here," Toyota's Jarno Trulli told the BBC.  Trulli was fastest overall in the session.

Another point of interest was the goings-on at Ferrari, when the team's media chief Luca Colajanni told off Nicolas Todt for very publicly introducing his young charge Jules Bianchi to team officials.

Frenchman Bianchi, 20 and already linked with Luca Badoer's race seat, drives this year for Todt's F3 team ART.

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