Kimi Raikkonen put his Hungarian frustrations behind him to set the fastest time in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps today.
The Finn retired at the Hungaroring after seeing his practice pace ruined by a poor tyre choice and he will hope that is not an unlucky omen for Sunday's race.
Raikkonen was streets ahead of the field today, clocking a lap of one minute 44.701seconds which none of his rivals could get near.
BAR's Jenson Button was the best of the rest but his fastest effort was 0.314secs down on Raikkonen.
World champion elect Michael Schumacher, who can seal the title with victory on Sunday, was third fastest in his Ferrari.
Test driver Anthony Davidson continued to impress as he looks for a race seat next year, taking fourth ahead of BAR team-mate Takuma Sato. Scotsman David Coulthard was sixth for McLaren.
Felipe Massa was the pacesetter after the first five minutes of practice, although by that time few of the big names had ventured out for a meaningful lap.
Raikkonen was first to knock the Brazilian off his perch before Davidson went even quicker. Schumacher was unable to improve on Davidson's effort with his first timed lap, falling two seconds short.
Ryan Briscoe found out the challenge of the demanding Eau Rouge corner the hard way with 15 minutes gone. On just his second grand prix weekend as a Toyota test driver, the Australian crashed heavily at the corner believed by many to represent Formula One's greatest challenge.
Having lost control on the entrance, he slid across the pit lane exit and ploughed into a tyre barrier, badly damaging his car and bringing the session to a halt.
After a seven-minute delay, practice resumed and Button eclipsed Davidson's time to sit on top of the timing sheets for the first time.
That supremacy did not last long, however, and BAR team-mate Sato knocked him down a spot before Raikkonen went faster than anyone yet this weekend.
Button closed the gap as Schumacher overdid it going into Stavelot, spinning his Ferrari after just drifting onto the dirt. The German improved his time later in the session but no-one could get close to Raikkonen's best.
In today's first session Davidson was the man to beat, eclipsing Schumacher's best effort by 0.304secs. Schumacher and Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello were second and third respectively while Button could only manage 11th.