Raikkonen hoping for dry Saturday

The Finn, winner of the Spa race last year and twice before that, lost control of his Ferrari at Turn 9 and crashed against the tyre barrier.

Although he managed to return to the pits with no rear wing, his car had too much damage to be repaired in time and the Finn managed just ten laps.

"When I went off the track at Turn 9, I clipped the kerb and the surface was a bit slippery there because of the rain," said Raikkonen. "I ended up spinning and then hitting the barrier. Unfortunately, not only did the rear wing break, but the floor was also damaged and it could not be repaired in time.

"A shame as already earlier, when I had gone onto new tyres, it had begun raining and I lost a bit of time. Let's hope tomorrow morning there's no rain so that I can run more consistently in the dry.

"In the morning, apart from a few little electrical problems, the car wasn't bad. Tomorrow we will see what we can do and obviously the weather will be a key factor."

Despite his crash, Raikkonen posted the fifth fastest time in the afternoon, having being second in the morning.

His teammate Felipe Massa continued showing his strong form and posted the fastest time of the day, although he was pipped by Renault's Fernando Alonso in the second session.

"It was an unusual day because of the changing weather," said Massa. "Overall, I am happy with the work we did over the three hours. The car is working well and responds positively to the set up changes we have made.

"We tried various solutions and now we must study the data to draw the right conclusions. The tyres worked as we had expected them to: the softer ones seem to offer more performance. I think we are moving in the right direction."