Planet-F1

Fri: BMW, Red Bull, Honda

Friday 5th September 2008

BMW, Red Bull and Honda all failed to break into the top ten in Friday's practice sessions for the Belgian GP.

BMW
Nick Heidfeld: Generally speaking my first day of practice here was okay. The track's level of grip was, as expected, low and this meant it wasn't too easy to drive the car. We have made some small changes during the course of the day, but, due to the inconsistent weather conditions, it was extremely difficult to make judgements. Because of the weather we couldn't do our usual tyre comparisons either, as we could not run the harder and softer compounds under the same conditions. This makes the analyses tricky but that's the same for everybody."

Robert Kubica: The conditions today were variable, especially in the afternoon session. Therefore today it was not only the testing that was difficult, but also evaluating the results of our programme. At the end of the day the conditions were the same for everybody. We shall now analyse the data and prepare for Saturday. When I was doing a practice start at the end of the session the engine stalled."

Red Bull
David Coulthard: Tricky Spa weather conditions this weekend, which makes it more difficult to evaluate where you are with the tyres etc. due to the changing conditions. What else to say? Don't come here on your Summer holidays?"

Mark Webber: It was a pretty good first session, we did quite a lot of running in anticipation of the mixed conditions forecast for the afternoon. We did one run in the afternoon, but unfortunately I then went back out and made a mistake on an out lap on slightly cool tyres. I couldn't recover it in Turn 8, slid across the gravel and damaged the car. We'll be back again tomorrow."

Honda
Jenson Button: Whilst it is great to be back at Spa, one of the most challenging and enjoyable circuits of the season, we did have a difficult time in free practice today. It was very hard to get heat into the tyres in the cool and damp conditions, which meant that I had little front grip which is particularly difficult here given the cambers in the corners. We also struggled with understeer. However we have a lot of data from the test last week and from our running today, so we will study this overnight and see where we can improve before qualifying."

Rubens Barrichello: I was happier with the balance of the car in the afternoon session, however we struggled a lot with the rear end which was very unpredictable throughout the day. The rain this afternoon did not help as we lost some track time but this was the same for everyone. At the moment, it looks like this track and dry conditions will not favour us, so we will be hoping that it rains heavily over the weekend."