Formula One news

Vettel pleased with Friday weather

Whereas most of the field was frustrated to lose significant setup time due to rain at Spa on Friday morning, Sebastian Vettel enjoyed seeing the conditions which prevented the field from discovering full dry setups. The German has just two fresh engines remaining this season and is currently using older powerplants in practice.

Red Bull is analysing how to make best use of two engines for the six remaining races

With two blown engines in Valencia bringing Vettel's total to four this season, the German has just two of his total eight remaining according to 2009 regulations. Use of a ninth would include a 10-place grid drop and so the Red Bull driver was pleased to see the rest of the field compromised on Friday morning.

"We didn't have so much running time today, especially in the morning, but that was actually quite good for us," he explained. "We knew we would face a difficult Friday, as we don't have that much mileage available because of my engine situation, so it was a little bit lucky to have the rain this morning. In the afternoon, I felt comfortable with the car, we didn't have any problems and I'm quite happy with the performance."

With Vettel's problems, Webber looks to be Red Bull's main man in the championship battle

Team-mate Mark Webber rounded the day off as leading championship contender, comfortably ahead of both Brawn GP cars in fourth position. "I think that's the most we could have hoped for during today's session," the Australian continued. "You always expect to lose a session at Spa due to the changeable weather conditions and that was the case this morning.

"We had a pretty productive afternoon with plenty to go through. We didn't always move in the right direction but that's not always a bad thing as we learn from it. So, that's today and now we'll put it all in focus for tomorrow - not a bad start for us."

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