Practice 1 Report - Spa first session is rained out

With dry weather forecast for qualifying and race, the first session of free practice at Spa was hit by heavy rain and mist, with similar conditions expected to afflict the afternoon session as well.

A feature of the 2012 season that has made tyre optimisation difficult has been inconsistency of track conditions over the three days and Spa, predictably enough, looks set to continue that trend.

Lotus and Ferrari were among those who elected not to run save for installation laps. Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber (2:11.369) was quickest of those who did brave the conditions, just over half a second faster than Pastor Maldonado's Williams (2:11.941).

The Toro Rossos were once again impressive in the wet, with Daniel Ricciardo (2:12.004) and Jean-Eric Vergne (2:12.824) third and fourth, ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull (2:13.191).

For the record, the top 10 was completed by Sergio Perez's Sauber (2:13.861), Nico Rosberg's Mercedes (2:14.210), Valtteri Bottas's Williams (2:14.660), Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull (2:14.860) and Michael Schumacher's Mercedes (2:15.502).