The opening Friday practice for the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix would see the Williams F1 team arrive with some updates with the team testing two different low drag rear wings, one with a big scoop in the main plane. The lead-up to the start of the session would see heavy rain falling and just prior to the start it would get heavier. The weather forecasts had rain falling for most of the day. For Williams Valtteri Bottas would replace Bruno Senna for the first session, joining regular driver Pastor Maldonado.

The first driver to venture out would be Vergne followed by Ricciardo and Clos, who was driving for HRT. For Williams Valtteri would be first out joined by Petrov, Kobayashi, and Pastor. After one lap Vergne would pit as Glock came out. More drivers would slowly come out as other drivers pitted having completed their installation laps. Both Valtteri and Pastor had pitted while we now had both Force India and Lotus cars come out. Kobayashi would continue and would set a 2m:23.141. Team-mate Perez would also continue as Kobayashi set a 2m:17.705. Perez would pit while Rosberg, Vettel, and Button came out of the pits. Next out were Massa, Schumacher, and Webber. Kobayashi would pit followed by others leaving the track empty. The only drivers yet to come out were Hamilton and Alonso.

Grosjean would return to the track joined by Hamilton. Grosjean would pit while Hamilton would have a aquaplaning moment on the run back up the hill towards Blanchimont. He would pit as the rain continue to fall even harder. Alonso would come out with just over an hour remaining. He would pit leaving the track empty. The rain continued to fall seeing the track covered with water making it unlikely that any drivers would come out. With forty five minutes remaining the sun would try to peak through and the rain ease. The first drivers to test the conditions would be Ricciardo and Vergne. Glock would also come out joined by Kobayashi. Hulkenberg would also take to the track as more drivers got back into their cars. Ricciardo would set a 2m:14.520 while Vergne set a 2m:16.362. Kobayashi would set a 2m:13.721 to be second behind Ricciardo. More drivers would come out including both Valtteri
and Pastor.

Glock was now fourth and Petrov fifth. Out on the track were many drivers including Clos, De la Rosa, Perez, Grosjean, Vettel, Schumacher, Webber, and Pic. Vergne would go fastest with a 2m:13.179 from Ricciardo, Kobayashi, Perez, Pastor, Glock, and Petrov. Pastor's first time was a 2m:14.684. Kobayashi would also improve setting a 2m:12.015 as Webber moved up to sixth with 2m:15.365. Vettel would pit having been told that the team wanted to make a front wing change. Vergne would set a 2m:12.824 as Pastor was told that he had six timed laps. Ricciardo would go fastest with a 2m:12.004. Pastor was currently sixth while Valtteri set a 2m:15.603. Pastor would improve with a 2m:11.941 to be fastest. Valtteri was seventh as Pastor continued to improve going fastest in sector one but he would pit. Button and Schumacher had left the pits as others returned to their pits with just over twenty
minutes remaining.

Valtteri had improved with 2m:15.130 while Button was eleventh with a time of 2m:16.861. Valtteri would pit with the order been Pastor fastest followed by Ricciardo, Kobayashi, Vergne, Perez, Webber, Valtteri, Di Resta, Glock, Petrov, Button, Pic, De la Rosa, Clos and in fifteenth Kovalainen. Pastor would come back out as Kobayashi went fastest with 2m:11.389. Several drivers had missed their braking at Le Combes as Kobayashi pitted. Valtteri would also come back out while Rosberg moved up to ninth with a 2m:15.861. Pastor would also lock up at Le Combes but he was able to continue with twelve minutes remaining. There were only four drivers on the track with Pastor having pitted. Valtteri had improved his time with 2m:14.660 but was now eighth as Rosberg had moved up to seventh.

with under five minutes remaining Pastor was back out as Vettel moved up to ninth, 2m:14.860. Six drivers had yet to set a time while out on the track it was quite busy. Neither of the Ferrari's had set times joined by Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Grosjean, and Hamilton. With under a minutes remaining all twenty four drivers were out on the track as the session drew to a close. Pastor would have a moment at Eau Rouge running wide but he was able to continue. Hamilton would complete just one lap setting a 2m:16.827 to be sixteenth. With the end of the session Pastor was second and Valtteri eighth. Massa would have an engine problem that would see lots of smoke come from his car at the Bus Stop. Not a session where any real conclusions can be drawn given the wet conditions but still encouraging to see both Williams drivers in the top ten.

Pos  Driver         	Team		      Time       Laps
 1.  Kamui Kobayashi    Sauber-Ferrari        2m11.389s 20
 2.  Pastor Maldonado   Williams-Renault      2m11.941s 14
 3.  Daniel Ricciardo   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m12.004s 12
 4.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    2m12.824s 15
 5.  Mark Webber        Red Bull-Renault      2m13.191s 13
 6.  Sergio Perez       Sauber-Ferrari        2m13.861s 16
 7.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              2m14.210s 14
 8.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Renault      2m14.660s 16
 9.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      2m14.860s 12
10.  Michael Schumacher Mercedes              2m15.402s 13
11.  Paul di Resta      Force India-Mercedes  2m15.812s 11
12.  Timo Glock         Marussia-Cosworth     2m16.409s 16
13.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  2m16.786s 10
14.  Vitaly Petrov      Caterham-Renault      2m16.788s 16
15.  Lewis Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      2m16.827s 5
16.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      2m16.861s 8
17.  Charles Pic        Marussia-Cosworth     2m17.519s 14
18.  Heikki Kovalainen  Caterham-Renault      2m18.199s 10
19.  Pedro de la Rosa   HRT-Cosworth          2m19.546s 12
20.  Dani Clos          HRT-Cosworth          2m19.689s 12
21.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         2m38.701s 9
22.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               2m40.749s 4
23.  Kimi Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault         2m46.580s 9
24.  Felipe Massa       Ferrari                         2