Pastor Maldonado put his name on the timesheets at Spa as did the two Sauber drivers. Caterham and HRT didn't bother.
Williams:
Pastor Maldonado: "It was quite a frustrating day, not being able to get much running, but it's the same for everyone and we will all just be thinking about tomorrow now. It looks like it's going to be dry so we need to be ready for that and do the best we can."
Bruno Senna: "It wasn't too much of a useful day for the team, as we didn't have much running in the morning or the afternoon. We've done some good technical work trying to get the car ready for tomorrow and for the race. We didn't take any risk though as there was no need, but hopefully tomorrow will be dry and we can do some more laps to prepare for qualifying."
Sauber:
Kamui Kobayashi: "I feel very sorry for the spectators here in the grandstands. We did some running in the first session, but in the afternoon we basically stayed in the garage. There wasn't anything to learn out there and it is obviously pretty easy to damage the car in these conditions. I can't say much except: Welcome to Spa - and welcome back to reality. I didn't see a drop of rain for the five weeks I have just spent in Tokyo and Hawaii."
Sergio Perez: "Unfortunately for all of us the conditions today didn't allow for any proper driving to kick off the second part of the season. It is such a shame for the brave spectators. I believe the fans in Spa really love Formula 1 and today we left them disappointed. I hope we can make up for this tomorrow and on Sunday and put on a good show."
Caterham:
Heikki Kovalainen: "It's obviously good to be back to racing but a shame it had to start with weather like this. Spa's notorious for its weather but I can't remember seeing it rain this hard for a long time so after today there's really not a lot to say after most of Friday was washed out. It looks like tomorrow should be dry so I think we'll be able to get more laps done in FP3 but with the weather in Spa you can never tell."
Vitaly Petrov: "First it's really good to get the season started again and it was great to come to Spa, catch up with the team and get back into the car. Even though the weather was clearly very bad in FP1 we managed to complete a good percentage of the runplan and the car felt pretty well balanced from the first few laps. In FP2 we were monitoring the weather throughout the session and as it progressed the rain fell harder than ever so we decided not to risk running. I made the strategy call to stay as warm as possible in the motorhome, wearing two jumpers and a couple of jackets and keeping as far away from the rain as possible!"
HRT:
Pedro de la Rosa: "I was surprised by the large amount of rain that poured down during both sessions. We anticipated the morning session to be less wet and that's why we made the most of it to complete our only run. We only did a few laps mainly to confirm that the car and the systems worked well, so in the afternoon, with the track in even worse conditions, we decided not to go out as it didn't contribute anything to us. It's been almost a month since we drove the car and the positive side was that I was able to get rid of the rust and get a feel for the car. For tomorrow we have an extra set of dry tyres and as today we were unable to test with a full deposit, that will be a priority."
Narain Karthikeyan: "Today I was unable to do any laps as the conditions were terrible, but you can't fight against these things so the best thing is to focus on tomorrow. No rain is anticipated so we will work on making up for lost time from the very start and to get some feel for the car. It will be an intense session but I'm really looking forward to going out on track."
Related Links
Prac Two: A washout
Friday's gallery from Spa
