Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso recorded the fastest time in both of Friday’s free practice sessions ahead of Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Spaniard registered a lap time of 2 minute 0.797 seconds in for the 7.004-kilometre circuit in a rain-soaked morning session before clocking a much improved time of 1:49.032 in the afternoon.
German Adrian Sutil of Force India was fourth in the morning and second-fastest on the day with a time of 1:49.157 minutes, while Lewis Hamilton was third in his McLaren in 1:49.248 after registering the second-quickest time behind Alonso in the morning.
Robert Kubica of Renault dropped one place to fourth in the second session while Massa was fifth fastest.
Sebastian Vettel could only manage sixth in the afternoon in his Red Bull, ahead of defending champion Jenson Button of McLaren.
Championship leader Mark Webber was seventh-fastest in the morning but was a lowly 18th in the afternoon session, which was confusingly red-flagged for several minutes near the end as race stewards checked whether spectators had gained access to a dangerous area of the track.
Webber heads the drivers’ standings with 161 points after 12 of 19 races. Hamilton sits in second spot, four points adrift of the Australian, followed by Vettel on 151 and Button on 147 points.
Alonso also remains in the title hunt in fifth place on 141 points. Qualifying takes place Saturday for Sunday’s race.
