Mark Webber set himself up for a memorable 35th birthday on Saturday when he topped the times for Red Bull in Friday afternoon’s second free practice session for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. The Australian, who is the only man among the leading drivers still without a win this year, clocked a fastest time of one minute and 50.321 seconds to outstrip his nearest rival Fernando Alonso of Ferrari by one-tenth of a second.
Two-times champion Spaniard Alonso was one of several men to trade fastest laps with Webber along with his Red Bull team-mate and defending champion German Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Briton Jenson Button. Seven-times champion German Michael Schumacher, 42, had topped the times in the morning’s opening session for Mercedes, marking the 20th anniversary of his Formula One debut with a flourish.
But in the afternoon he wad down in 11th, five places behind his Mercedes team-mate compatriot Nico Rosberg, while Vettel wound up 10th. Button was third ahead of his McLaren team-mate and fellow-Briton Lewis Hamilton, the 2009 and 2008 champions maintaining impressive progress on a day of near-incessant heavy rain at the majestic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the sprawling pine forests of the Belgian Ardennes.
