Friday Second Free Practice - Belgian GP

Finn Kimi Raikkonen ended Ferrari's run at the top of the timesheets on Friday when he finished fastest on the opening day of practice for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix.

The McLaren-Mercedes driver, who almost won his first Grand Prix in France three races ago, set a lap of 1:47.196 to out-pace the Ferraris as the early morning fog made way for bright sunshine.

Raikkonen finished 0.160 seconds clear of his teammate Scot David Coulthard as the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello dropped down to third and fourth respectively. German Schumacher was just 0.207 seconds off the lead McLaren-Mercedes, but his Brazilian teammate finished 1.125 seconds slower and ended his session beached in a gravel trap after spinning within ten minutes of the end.

German Ralf Schumacher finished fifth fastest for Williams-BMW, with Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya finishing just behind sixth-placed Briton Jenson Button in the leading Renault and seventh placed Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa of Jaguar.

Eddie Irvine was ninth in the second Jaguar, with Finn Mika Salo, who announced on Friday that he will retire at the end of the season, finished in the top ten for Toyota.

In a session with little incident, Australian Mark Webber was forced to walk back after his Minardi ground to a halt, while de la Rosa was faced with the same predicament when his Jaguar stopped with 15 minutes to go.

But it was the Jordan Honda of Japan's Takuma Sato which provided the most spectacular session termination when the Japanese-built engine blew up in a plume of smoke after turn eight.

Meanwhile, the Arrows cars were still prevented from getting out on track as the take-over deal trundled on and forced their only driver, Enrique Bernoldi from making any running on the opening day.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:47.196 234.009 km/h 20 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 1:47.356 + 0.160 29 3. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:47.403 + 0.207 27 4. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:48.321 + 1.125 24 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 1:48.435 + 1.239 31 6. Button Renault (M) 1:48.778 + 1.582 27 7. de la Rosa Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:48.902 + 1.706 18 8. Montoya Williams BMW (M) 1:48.969 + 1.773 19 9. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:49.222 + 2.026 16 10. Salo Toyota (M) 1:49.260 + 2.064 26 11. McNish Toyota (M) 1:49.560 + 2.364 28 12. Trulli Renault (M) 1:49.603 + 2.407 29 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 1:49.897 + 2.701 23 14. Fisichella Jordan Honda (B) 1:50.144 + 2.948 23 15. Sato Jordan Honda (B) 1:50.357 + 3.161 24 16. Panis BAR Honda (B) 1:50.392 + 3.196 20 17. Massa Sauber Petronas (B) 1:51.068 + 3.872 26 18. Davidson Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:51.270 + 4.074 32 19. Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 1:51.355 + 4.159 25 20. Webber Minardi Asiatech (M) 1:52.343 + 5.147 13 All Timing Unofficial