Takuma Sato's Belgian Grand Prix came to a premature end after just 13 laps when he emerged from behind the safety car with cold tyres and brakes and was unable to prevent contact with Michael Schumacher as the German braked into the La Source hairpin.

The incident was symptomatic of a tumultuous race, run in typically difficult Ardennes weather, but, to rub salt into the wound, Taku was handed a ten-place grid penalty for the next race for his part in the incident

　 "It was very tricky at the beginning of the race, but I made a good first lap and gained many positions. It was an exciting first stint and things were going well up to the first stop. The incident with Michael happened on the first corner after the restart, following the safety car. With cold tyres and brakes, it was very difficult to stop the car and, unfortunately, I touched the back of him. Obviously, I am disappointed that we could not deliver a good result today."

　 Takuma Sato will start the Belgian Grand Prix from tenth on the grid, having been frustrated by an early qualifying slot at Spa-Francorchamps.

Preparation for qualifying was a challenge in itself, as the BAR-Honda team squeezed the work of three free practice sessions into two after rain stopped play for the whole of Friday afternoon. The deadline for tyre choice was deferred to noon on Saturday and Taku made good progress through a busy schedule of set-up work and tyre evaluations.

However, as the fifth driver out on track, Taku was unable to benefit from the track evolving during the timed session. His lap was clean and tidy in lower-grip conditions nonetheless, but yielded only eleventh fastest time, later bumped up to tenth following Giancarlo Fisichella's penalty.

　 "Obviously, by running so early in the session, I knew that I would pay the price a little in terms of the later drivers benefiting from the track evolution. The conditions were a little low-grip, which made the lap difficult. The weather has made preparation for the race quite challenging, but it has been the same for everyone and I think we have done the best job possible to achieve our full programme this morning. It looks like the weather will be tricky tomorrow as well, but we will be flat-out whether it's raining or drying. We have a good strategy for tomorrow and we are determined to do a good job."

　 Some typically temperamental weather conditions in the Ardennes region of Belgium meant that little in the way of meaningful running was achieved by either Takuma Sato or the BAR-Honda team on day one of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend.

Taku ran through his regular morning programme of installation runs and set-up work, completing seven laps of the Spa-Franchorchamps circuit, but that was about as much as the conditions would allow.

As usual, the intention was to work on tyre selection during afternoon practice, but the weather had other ideas and the entire second session was lost to a downpour. In the circumstances, the FIA has extended the tyre selection deadline to noon on Saturday, so Taku will be hoping for better conditions during the remaining free practice sessions to prepare for qualifying.

　 "There is little to say about today because of the weather. I did only a few laps at the end of the morning session in drying conditions, but my first impression is that our package should be quite good. We will just have two very busy sessions tomorrow."