Belgium: Friday a complete washout
By Nick Sparkes
September 14 2005
Panasonic Toyota Racing were expecting a wet weekend, the tradition Spa circuit has always opened its heavens at some stage during the weekend over the last couple of years. But today, nobody could have prepared themselves for the monsoon type conditions, which greeted the teams on Friday afternoon.
The first season started out wet, but dried towards the end. This didn’t stop Friday runner Ricardo Zonta pumping in the laps, his TF105 putting in 22 laps to finish a creditable fourth. Race drivers Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher also featured in the top ten, with Jarno seventh and Ralf ninth. The conditions lead to many of the runners driving limited numbers of laps due to the tricky conditions, and at in the final minutes, Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of the day, to go fastest with McLaren’s Friday tester Alexander Wurz just behind him. Bridgestone struggled to show any of their wet weather form with Michael Schumacher only taking eighth.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | K. Raikkonen | Team McLaren Mercedes |
1:48.206 |
5 |
| 2 | A. Wurz | Team McLaren Mercedes |
1:48.216 |
18 |
| 3 | G. Fisichella | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team |
1:48.619 |
6 |
| 4 | R. Zonta | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
1:49.445 |
22 |
| 5 | M. Webber | BMW WilliamsF1 Team |
1:49.692 |
4 |
| 6 | J. Button | Lucky Strike BAR Honda |
1:49.890 |
7 |
| 7 | J. Trulli | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
1:50.542 |
9 |
| 8 | M. Schumacher | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro |
1:50.564 |
4 |
| 9 | R. Schumacher | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
1:50.820 |
8 |
| 10 | V. Liuzzi | Red Bull Racing |
1:50.951 |
17 |
| 11 | T. Sato | Lucky Strike BAR Honda |
1:51.003 |
7 |
| 12 | R. Barrichello | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro |
1:51.177 |
5 |
| 13 | J. Villeneuve | Sauber Petronas |
1:52.173 |
7 |
| 14 | F. Massa | Sauber Petronas |
1:52.236 |
9 |
| 15 | N. Karthikeyan | Jordan Grand Prix |
1:53.148 |
9 |
| 16 | A. Pizzonia | BMW WilliamsF1 Team |
1:53.535 |
4 |
| 17 | C. Albers | Minardi F1 Team |
1:53.807 |
9 |
| 18 | N. Kiesa | Jordan Grand Prix |
1:54.437 |
17 |
| 19 | R. Doornbos | Minardi F1 Team |
1:54.973 |
8 |
| 20 | T. Monteiro | Jordan Grand Prix |
1:55.174 |
7 |
| 21 | E. Toccacelo | Minardi F1 Team |
2:02.502 |
5 |
| 22 | D. Coulthard | Red Bull Racing |
no time |
1 |
| 23 | C. Klien | Red Bull Racing |
no time |
1 |
| 24 | F. Alonso | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team |
no time |
0 |
| 25 | J. Montoya | Team McLaren Mercedes |
no time |
0 |
The second session was a complete washout. The heavens opened leaving a flooded track for the duration of the session, thus meaning hardly any running from all of the teams. Red Bull Racings Tonio Liuzzi ventured out on the socking Spa circuit, only to spin and hit the wall, evidence to all the teams that conditions were worse than anybody expected. Toyota remained in the garage throughout the session, finishing what was a very wet and miserable day.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | V. Liuzzi | Red Bull Racing |
no time |
1 |
| 2 | R. Doornbos | Minardi F1 Team |
no time |
1 |
| 3 | F. Alonso | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team |
no time |
1 |
| 4 | M. Schumacher | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro |
no time |
0 |
| 5 | R. Barrichello | Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro |
no time |
0 |
| 6 | J. Button | Lucky Strike BAR Honda |
no time |
0 |
| 7 | T. Sato | Lucky Strike BAR Honda |
no time |
0 |
| 8 | G. Fisichella | Mild Seven Renault F1 Team |
no time |
0 |
| 9 | M. Webber | BMW WilliamsF1 Team |
no time |
0 |
| 10 | A.Pizzonia | BMW WilliamsF1 Team |
no time |
0 |
| 11 | K. Raikkonen | West McLaren Mercedes |
no time |
0 |
| 12 | J. Montoya | West McLaren Mercedes |
no time |
0 |
| 13 | J. Villeneuve | Sauber Petronas |
no time |
0 |
| 14 | F. Massa | Sauber Petronas |
no time |
0 |
| 15 | D. Coulthard | Red Bull Racing |
no time |
0 |
| 16 | C. Klien | Red Bull Racing |
no time |
0 |
| 17 | J. Trulli | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
no time |
0 |
| 18 | R. Schumacher | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
no time |
0 |
| 19 | T. Monteiro | Jordan Grand Prix |
no time |
0 |
| 20 | N. Karthikeyan | Jordan Grand Prix |
no time |
0 |
| 21 | C. Albers | Minardi F1 Team |
no time |
0 |
| 22 | A. Wurz | West McLaren Mercedes |
no time |
0 |
| 23 | R. Zonta | Panasonic Toyota Racing |
no time |
0 |
| 24 | N. Kiesa | Jordan Grand Prix |
no time |
0 |
| 25 | E. Toccacelo | Minardi F1 Team |
no time |
0 |
Times courtesy of toyota-f1.com