Brawns struggle in dry afternoon practice

After the morning rain, it was a dry second practice session at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday afternoon.

The final timesheet itself was a mixed bag: the McLarens were quickest (Lewis Hamilton) and 12th, the Ferraris third (Kimi Raikkonen) and dead last, the Red Bulls fourth (Mark Webber) and 10th, and the Brawns a worrying 17th and 18th.

Championship leader Jenson Button was complaining on the radio about the handling of his Mercedes-powered car.

"It is an important day, to know if we can challenge the Red Bulls on a circuit like this," the Briton had said beforehand.

Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari had a failure, apparently in his Ferrari engine, right at the end of the 90 minute session.

Earlier, Badoer's Ferrari triggered a red flag when a wheel fairing fell off at the Blanchimont corner. He ended the session dead last, 2 seconds from Raikkonen's sister car, and nearly a full second from the next quickest competitor.