Fernando Alonso put in a late run to head the timesheets at the end of Friday’s rain and crash-interrupted second practice.
The Renault driver clocked a 1:48.454 to edge out the Ferrari of Felipe Massa, while Heikki Kovalainen finished in third place.
McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton had been the fastest man for most of the session, but as conditions improved a sudden flurry of fast laps at the end saw him pushed down to fourth as he failed to improve on 1m 48.805s.
Massa’s Ferrari team-mate and defending drivers world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen, winner of the last three Belgian Grands Prix, ended up fifth.
Raikkonen was first to get caught out, losing control and then crashing into the barriers in his Ferrari.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India car then spun on the fluids left behind on the circuit by Raikkonen’s car and hit the barriers as well.
Brazilian Nelson Piquet in the second Renault also crashed and damaged his car’s rear wing before the track began to dry and the times improved.
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