Free practice 3: A Williams one-two

With the medical helicopters unable to fly in from their base at Liege, practice was delayed until the fog lifted and time constraints meant that the second session was cancelled as a result.

It was worth waiting for, however, as the Williams-BMWs of Montoya and Ralf Schumacher fought out a thrilling battle for the fastest time. With just seconds remaining on the clock, Ralf banged in a 1m47.768s before Montoya rattled off a sensational 1m47.494s. That time was 1.2secs quicker than Michael Schumacher's fastest lap from yesterday.

The newly crowned World Champion had a strange session and languished in 19th place at the end. The German spent most of the period sat in the pits while Ferrari mechanics worked on his brakes. As soon as the session concluded, Schuey locked himself away in the team bus with the Ferrari hierarchy - trouble in paradise, it appears.

On a more positive note, McLaren looked to be the class of the field on intermediates early on in the damp but drying session. On dry tyres, however, neither Mika Hakkinen or David Coulthard could hold a candle to the Williams duo and ended up around a second off the pace in third and fourth respectively.

Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fifth quickest, ahead of the inspired Giancarlo Fisichella. Benetton and Renault appear to have made a breakthrough at Spa, and Fisichella's result was backed up by ninth placed Jenson Button.

Eddie Irvine was seventh quickest for Jaguar, ahead of BAR's Jacques Villeneuve, making it five Michelin- and five Bridgestone-shod cars in the top ten. Rounding out the top dozen, Jean Alesi outpaced Jordan team mate Jarno Trulli and the second BAR of Olivier Panis.

Unlike yesterday, there was little in the way of spins or accidents. Only Button and Prost's Heinz-Harald Frentzen indulged in minor off-track excursions this time around.

The serious business of qualifying begins at 13.00 local time (12.00 BST).

For a full list of results, click here.