As with much of the Friday running, third practice for the Belgian Grand Prix was punctuated by heavy rain showers.
It was not enough to stop Red Bull’s Mark Webber from taking the top spot.
The Australian only completed seven laps in his RB7, but his best of 2:08.988 was more than enough to steal the headlines.
Lewis Hamilton came a close 2nd in his McLaren. The former-Champion stayed in the garage for much of the session, in the end only completing eight circulations of Spa.
The Briton made for a short stint in the dying moments of practice, but such was the conditions on track, it is doubtful much of use was learned.
Both Toro Rosso’s achieved top six status, with Jaime Alguersuari 3rd and Sebastien Buemi 6th. The Ferrari-powered duo squeezed Jenson Button (4th, McLaren) and Sebastian Vettel (5th, Red Bull) respectively.
Nico Rosberg assumed 7th in his Mercedes, despite losing a few minutes of the session due to right front puncture. His teammate, Michael Schumacher, rounded out the top ten.
Ferrari completed very little running, with Felipe Massa setting only a single lap time. Fernando Alonso ran five installation laps, but did not attempt a fast tour.
The mid part of the session saw next to no running, as near monsoon condition prevailed over the circuit.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap Laps 1. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 2m08.988s 7 2. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 2m09.046s + 0.058s 8 3. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m09.931s + 0.943s 16 4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 2m10.257s + 1.269s 7 5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2m10.402s + 1.414s 9 6. Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2m10.580s + 1.592s 15 7. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m10.837s + 1.849s 12 8. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2m11.437s + 2.449s 13 9. Bruno Senna Renault 2m11.664s + 2.676s 14 10. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m11.667s + 2.679s 10 11. Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 2m11.874s + 2.886s 13 12. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 2m13.036s + 4.048s 15 13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 2m13.074s + 4.086s 12 14. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 2m13.182s + 4.194s 12 15. Vitaly Petrov Renault 2m13.290s + 4.302s 15 16. Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 2m13.778s + 4.790s 12 17. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 2m14.334s + 5.346s 14 18. Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 2m14.682s + 5.694s 11 19. Jerome D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 2m17.159s + 8.171s 12 20. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2m18.039s + 9.051s 10 21. Daniel Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 2m19.001s + 10.013s 12 22. Tonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 2m19.001s + 10.609s 14 23. Felipe Massa Ferrari 2m19.597s + 13.466s 7 24. Fernando Alonso Ferrari no time 5
