Felipe Massa heads out to give his Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas some company on track. 

Roberto Merhi and Hungarian GP winner Sebastian Vettel are also out.

Spa-Francorchamps. The undulating circuit is the longest on the F1 calendar, with famous corners such as Eau Rouge, Pouhon and Blanchimont providing some of the toughest tests of the year for both drivers and engineers.  

Just looking at the above photo, you can see why it is a popular destination for fans. Well, it is either the scenery or the Laundry Museum...

You can read about that, and some more pertinent Belgian GP stats here.

Image source, Getty Images

The track is open and Valtteri Bottas, who had been mooted as a potential Kimi Raikkonen replacement at Ferrari, is straight out. 

Image source, Getty Images

They may be the quickest team in F1, but Mercedes are not sitting on their hands and were showing off their new curved rear wing in first practice.

Aside from looking very swish indeed it is designed to reduce drag, making it suited for low downforce circuits such as Spa & Monza.

I wonder what the technical name for the design is?

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Spa

"A bit more on Red Bull. Engine partner Renault is planning a major upgrade later in the year, which has been tentatively pencilled in for the Russian Grand Prix in October. 

"The engine is showing promise on the dynomometer at the Renault factory near Paris and Daniel Ricciardo says it should provide a decent step forward. ‘If we gain everything we should it should put us in a good position,’ he said. ‘You’d think it would put us comfortably alongside Ferrari. But even on the dyno sometimes you think it can be something and on the track it can be something else. I’ll always downplay it a bit because I’d rather be pleasantly surprised than disappointed. It could be very big turning point in our season. I guess time will tell for now.’ 

"Word on the street is that the upgrade could be worth in the region of 0.15-0.2secs a lap.’”

It might not be his birthday but Kimi Raikkonen certainly got a nice gift this week with the news that Ferrari are retaining him for 2016.

Is it the right move, or would you have preferred to have seen someone else get the seat next year?

Let us know via #bbcf1,, external text in on 81111 (UK only) and post a comment on the BBC Sport Facebook page.

It is a special birthday for Felipe Nasr the Sauber driver turns the grand old age of 23. 

Glad to see you are never too old for a tiny F1 car on top of your birthday cake...

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer at Spa

“By their own lofty standards, Red Bull did not have a great start to the season, and even team principal Christian Horner admitted a couple of months ago that this year’s RB11 was ‘far from perfect’. 

"However, an upgrade at Silverstone has transformed the car and it now looks, in terms of chassis, a match for the Mercedes. Talking about their two-three finish in the last race in Hungary, Daniel Ricciardo said on Thursday: ‘We know the lack of power but there have been times this year when we felt the chassis has been under-performing as well. But we felt in Budapest if we got it in the sweet spot it was back to where it was last year. It’s a very strong car. Our understanding of where the sweet spot is is a lot better and I have confidence now we will find it more often than not.’ 

"Despite running a very skinny rear wing to maximise speed on the straights as a result of the Renault’s power deficit, that form has continued here. Ricciardo was third fastest in P1 and the quickest car through the speed trap at the exit of Stavelot.”

As we have already established, Pastor Maldonado provided the morning's drama in an otherwise quiet session by reacquainting himself with the barriers. 

Meanwhile, Mercedes picked up from where they left off before the summer break by topping the timesheet, Nico Rosberg two tenths quicker than Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was the best of the rest with the third fastest time.

Watch highlights from FP1 here.

Welcome back! Or hello if you are just joining us. 

Second practice gets under way at 13:00 BST and in around 10 minutes, Lee McKenzie and the rest of the gang will be on BBC Two (you can also watch at the top of this page, or via the live coverage tab mobile users).

First up, a quick reminder of what happened this morning...

Image source, Getty Images

That imaginary waffling (pun intended) in my previous entry is exactly how I like to think the conversation between Lotus mechanics went when Pastor Maldonado planted his car into the barrier during first practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Lunch cancelled, and instead more time spent trying to knock Maldonado's E23 back into shape, but have they managed to repair the damage in time for FP2?

Image source, Lotus

"I think I'm going to go for the croissants today, the ones with choclate and icing sprinkled on top."

"Waffles for me Dave, we are in Belgium after all. Might even sit outside and enjoy the view of the Ardennes."

"Good shout, I think I'll...hang on is that...no..."

"Dammit Pastor!"

Right then, time for us to scoot off for a quick bite to eat, a coffee and possibly a power nap. 

We'll be back for coverage of FP2 right here from 12:30 BST. See you then!

Allan McNish
BBC Radio 5 live analyst

"Lotus will get the car back out for FP2 but what Pasto crashing does do is it takes time out of a team that needs every single lap they can and every point they can in a season.

"He has won a grand prix, so when he does have a good day it is a good day, the problem is there are a lot of bad days in-between."

The two Mercedes topping practice and Pastor Maldonado crashing...

...welcome back F1!

Two tenths of a second between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton at the top of the timesheet, and a good session for Kimi Raikkonen. 

Fresh from getting confirmation of another year at Ferrari, the Finn was fourth fastest on a circuit he historically does well on, having claimed four wins at Spa.