Since I teased you with an interesting fact about French fries. Here it is:

They are actually Belgian - not French.

According to the internet, a long time ago villagers in Belgium used to fry fish from the nearby lake. Until in 1680 the lake froze over and they started frying potatoes instead - the "fry" was born.

The "French" part is claimed to have come from American soldiers who coined the term after they were stationed in the Francophone region of Belgium in WW1. Francophone was too much of a big word and they nicknamed them "French fries".

Au revoir.

Tot ziens.

Auf wiedersehen.

Goodbye.

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen pipped Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in second practice at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen set a lap of 1min 43.355 seconds, beating Hamilton by 0.168 secs on their qualifying simulation runs.

Read the full report here.

Watch the interview below as Formula 3 driver Mick Schumacher tells BBC Sport that his father, seven-time F1 world champion Michael, has had a "huge influence" on his life.

Before the summer break BBC Sport asked readers to list their preferred F1 calendar, based on the season being reduced to 16 races. Thousands of you duly obliged by using our selector, and the results make interesting reading.

A record-equalling 21 races in 2018 has led to a call for an "aggressive" cull of the calendar, externalfrom Renault F1 boss Cyril Abiteboul, who does not want to see grand prix weekends become "routine". Combining this season's races with four wildcards, readers had a long list of 25 grands prix to whittle down to a final 16.

None of the wildcards made the cut, with San Marino falling just short with 55.3% of the vote. Malaysia (49%) also missed out on a return to the calendar, while there was only lukewarm support for the prospect of races in London (26%) and Miami (25.1%).

Current races that failed to make the cut were Mexico, Azerbaijan, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Russia, which came a distant last after being included in only 23% of all calendars selected. There were few surprises among the final 16 selected, with classic events in Belgium and Italy included on most calendars.

Canada perhaps surprisingly pipped the British Grand Prix to third place, while Brazil, Australia and Japan also made the top seven. Also of note is the relatively lowly position of the Monaco GP with nearly 23% of all calendars selected excluding it entirely.

Image source, .

Before I bid you farewell, let me leave you with these...

Cast your minds back to last week. We held a vote for you to choose your Red Bull driver for 2019.

These were your top three, and nearly half of you were right.

1. Pierre Gasly with 40%

2. Kimi Raikkonen with 14%

3. Carlos Sainz with 13%

Keep your eyes peeled for more data analysis this weekend as the transfer gossip continues.

Image source, BBC Sport

While on the Raikkonen note, he now has an autobiography. But it's only available in Swedish and Finnish for now. So, until the English version comes out, let's hope it says more than those most used phrases (see post 3:52).

He has had some success here. He won four times in: 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, which is his most successful track in his career.

He's the third most successful in all time list behind Ayrton Senna (5) and Michael Schumacher (6)

He's most successful Finn in Belgium. Finn’s have won 10% of Belgian GPs.

He's been on the podium in the last five races, and he posted the quickest time overall today... can he claim another victory this weekend?

Image source, Getty Images

Daniel Ricciardo: "We still have some things to improve, we cured one problem but created another, and we didn’t really find a sweet spot. The atmosphere with the team is good, I had a good bit of team time and spoke to everyone and they all respect the decision and hope to finish this year strong."

Image source, Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel says: "The car felt not yet where I wanted it to be, we need to do some work. Kimi (Raikkonen) was a bit happier on one lap. We still have a bit of time so we’ll see. We have our weaknesses in the wet, but it'll be nice to have some rain and confirm that we have done the right things."

When asked about Raikkonen's future on the team: "It's no secret we get along well. But it's not my decision to make."

Image source, Getty Images

Just like every interview Kimi has ever done, he uses the same phases again today, and it went a little bit like this:

"It's impossible to say, it's not like it makes a difference. It's only Friday so who knows what will happen.

The last time I won here, it wasn't a strong car. I don't know its Friday, we do our job and hopefully it's good enough to stay in front."

If you would like to read more about the "least bothered man in sport", Andrew Benson wrote a fascinating piece on the Iceman, which is still relevant.

"He goes into news conferences with a list of Raikkonen's most-used phrases and ticks them off as they come up: "It is what it is." "I don't know." "It's the same for everyone." "We do our own thing." And everyone's favourite: "Bwoah" - with which Raikkonen starts every answer to a potentially difficult question."

Read more here.

Toby Godfrey: "regarding Ricciardo winning another race? Yes it's perfectly feasible although arguably he won Monaco because Max wasn't in contention in quali (my money was on him being out qualified and taking 2nd) but we will have to see, he won't take his foot off the gas that's for sure!"

This morning the drivers talked about a few spots of rain. And then it dried up.

RallyRob: "Looks like the rain is being saved until quali. That would shake things up!! #bbcf1, external"

Oh yes it would...

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

"When it rains it can really chuck down here. In my GP2 days we had some soaking wet days and the challenge is huge, particularly at Eau Rouge, one of the most famous corners of the season. If you get to the top and have got it wrong it is very painful."

Image source, Rex Features

FP1 Sebastian Vettel fastest with 1:44.358

FP2 Kimi Raikkonen fastest with 1:43.355

Can they turn the heat up in qualifying tomorrow?

Since it was uneventful, I'll share my interesting fact on french fries as promised...

Image source, Getty Images

16. Alonso

17. Hartley

18. Sirotkin

19. Stroll

20. Vandoorne

... Vandoorne obviously didn't eat his waffles at lunch.

1. Raikkonen

2. Hamilton

3. Bottas

4. Verstappen

5. Vettel

Jolyon Palmer
Former Renault driver on BBC Radio 5 live

What have we learned in this second session? I'm not convinced we've seen the pace from either Ferrari or Mercedes.

Stuart Brierley: "Given the points situation of the new team, I wonder if they will become known as Racing Pointless."

Rachel Bridge: "Did Christian Horner seriously just reference Daniil Kvyat as a driver Red Bull invested in... the one they demoted. TWICE!! #BBCF1, external"

Jeff Siddle: "Following #fp2 on the bbc while relaxing on by the pool in Lanzarote ... can thing of worse places to follow the #f1"

Very nice Jeff, enjoy your holiday. It looks like a busy pool... the lifeguard looks like he needs something more interesting to look at.

Very... It's famous for being the drivers’ favourite circuit. With massive cornering speeds and elevation changes, and the longest circuit on the calendar at 7km.

Here's some of the best elements:

Eau Rouge (sector 1) – scenes of many spectacular crashes and brave overtakes, often at 195mph

Kemmel straight (sector 1) – after Eau Rouge, epic overtakes often occur

Pouhon (sector 2) – Lewis Hamilton loves this one; adverse camber makes it a big challenge

Blanchimont (sector 3) – similar, less tight, even faster, though, at 200mph

Image source, bbc