Raikkonen dominates practice 1 - Belgium
Kimi Raikkonen dominated the opening practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing over half a second clear of his closest rival
The Ferrari driver posted a best time of 1:47.339 after spending a long time in the pits before finally kicking off his work.
The Finn completed 16 laps and finished 0.542 seconds ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who led McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso, third fastest.
The session took place under clear skies and the weather is expected to remain dry during the weekend.
Raikkonen's promising start was in contrast with teammate Felipe Massa's poor session, the Brazilian failing to set a time.
Nick Heidfeld was fourth quickest, with Williams driver Nico Rosberg splitting the BMWs, finishing ahead of Robert Kubica.
Alex Wurz completed a strong start to Williams' weekend by finishing in seventh place, in front of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen. Jenson Button continued to show improved form from his Honda team by rounding up the top ten.
The session saw few incidents, with Massa's exit the highlight of the 90 minutes.
The Ferrari driver's day came to an end after just two laps after he went off at the Rivages corner. His Ferrari seemed to go just go straight off the track at the exit of Les Combes, the Brazilian's car nudging the tyre barriers head-on.
Massa ended at the bottom of the timesheets without a timed lap.
The Ferrari driver finished right behind Sakon Yamamoto, whose session also finished early when he stopped on track with some six minutes to go.
The Spyker driver wound up over a second behind teammate Adrian Sutil, who showed good pace with the B-spec car and finished in 19th position.
Drivers were allowed to practice starts at the end of the session to test the new track surface.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:47.339 16 2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:47.881 + 0.542 19 3. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:47.994 + 0.655 17 4. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.052 + 0.713 20 5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.372 + 1.033 18 6. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:48.605 + 1.266 20 7. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:48.920 + 1.581 20 8. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:48.994 + 1.655 19 9. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:49.138 + 1.799 22 10. Button Honda (B) 1:49.330 + 1.991 22 11. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:49.380 + 2.041 25 12. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:49.548 + 2.209 21 13. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:49.894 + 2.555 23 14. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:49.931 + 2.592 19 15. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:50.264 + 2.925 22 16. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:50.482 + 3.143 27 17. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.640 + 3.301 16 18. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:50.648 + 3.309 20 19. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:50.768 + 3.429 22 20. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:51.628 + 4.289 12 21. Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:52.379 + 5.040 21 22. Massa Ferrari (B) No time 2
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