Thanks to some overnight showers, the track was damp when the day began. Rain again hit the Spa-Francorchamps track just after lunch, forcing many teams to change their programmes.
Felipe Massa finished the day top of the timesheets with a time of 1:46.698 on a dry track. It wasn t all smooth running for the Brazilian as he caused one of the two red flags seen during the day Massa stopped on the track mid-afternoon as the team checked the fuel consumption of the car.
Alonso finished second as the team continued to push hard on their aerodynamic updates in a bid to regain their winning streak.
Kovalainen was third quickest in his Renault. It was the first time that Kovalainen had driven the track in a Formula 1 car and he said it was an enjoyable experience. “I raced at this track in GP2 a couple of years ago but the first time in an F1 car is always a bit different, no matter which circuit it is,†Kovalainen remarked. “The car balance was good straight away and I think we have a good baseline to work from at the GP weekend.
“We then tried to get the most out of the changing track conditions by working on tuning the set-up for the wet conditions, particularly focusing on the control systems. That was a good programme and we found some interesting things. In spite of the changeable weather, I think we got the most out of the day and the results were encouraging.â€
Ralf Schumacher completed just 29 laps of the circuit before calling it a day – his team decided not to waste mileage running in the wet. Sutil finished a good fourth in the Spyker.
Sebastien Bourdais, Champ Car champion, was in the Toro Rosso car for the first of two days of testing. The Toro Rosso will be watching him closely as they evaluate whether to give the Frenchman a race seat next season or not. Bourdais caused the second red flag of the day after he stopped on-track in the afternoon.
Robert Kubica suffered from gearbox trouble and was only able to complete 29 laps, finishing bottom of the timesheet.
Unofficial Times for Day 2 of testing at Spa
1. Massa Ferrari 1:46.698 54
2. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.012 68
3. Kovalainen Renault 1:47.754 44
4. R.Schumacher Toyota 1:48.534 29
5. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari 1:48.873 49
6. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:48.915 40
7. Button Honda 1:49.526 50
8. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:49.732 53
9. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:50.295 52
10. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:52.438 54
11. Kubica BMW-Sauber 1:55.155 29
