Kimi Raikkonen from McLaren on Friday took the first place with 1m 48.206s at the practice driving at Formula One Grand Prix of Belgium.

On the first day of Belgian F1, rainfall greeted the Formula Onedrivers with a soaking track, and they arrived at the track for practicing very late.

It was until the final ten minutes that Raikkonen stamped his authority.

The Finn's last of five laps stopped the clock in 1m 48.206s, beating McLaren team mate Alexander Wurz by 0.010s.

"I did one run at the end of the first session, but the conditions on the drying track were not ideal," Raikkonen said after practicing.

"I like Spa and this is an important weekend for me and the team, and we will just continue to focus on winning the race - whether it's wet or dry," he added.

Behind Raikkonen and Wurz, Giancarlo Fisichella boosted Renault's hopes with 1m 48.619s in his six laps, but team mate Fernando Alonso didn't even bother to go out after being delayed by a oil-leaking problem.

Ricardo Zonta, like Wurz, ran all morning and ended up fourth for Toyota on 1m 49.445s.

Michael Schumacher led his younger brother in eighth place for Ferrari, their respective laps being 1m 50.564s and 1m 50.820s.

"It was just too wet to go out. I think we would have needed a boat propeller to power our way round the track," joked Michael Schumacher.

Editor: Donald