Motor Sport Belgian GPWorld championship leader Fernando Alonso has warned the pressure on himself and title rival Kimi Raikkonen will be greater than ever this weekend if the predicted rain comes down at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Renault driver was one of only two to complete a lap in the wet second practice yesterday, in torrential rain that prompted his rivals to question whether a meaningful race could take place if similar weather hits tomorrow.
Heavy rain is forecast for race day and, if conditions are good enough to stave off the threat of prolonged safety-car involvement, Alonso is predicting a tense 44 laps.
Alonso believes the pressure to avoid errors could be magnified on the challenging Spa track. He said: "It is more risky for everybody because the car becomes a little bit difficult to drive and it is easy to make mistakes, go off the track and finish your race."
Alonso also dispelled the notion that a wet race could level the playing field and erode the advantage of McLaren and Raikkonen. The two most memorable wet races of recent times saw Jordan claim their first win at Spa in 1998 and Giancarlo Fisichella claim his at Brazil in 2003. But Alonso feels those results are anomalies and expects McLaren to be as strong in the wet as they are tipped to be in the dry.
"I think always when we talk about wet conditions it seems as though the cars are more similar - the car becomes less competitive if it is good and more competitive if it is bad. This is not really true, we never saw a Minardi win a wet grand prix," said Alonso, who needs to score four points more than Raikkonen to sew up the title.
Title rival Raikkonen, a winner in Belgium last year, insists the threat of a wet race will not distract him from taking the maximum points he realistically needs to keep his championship challenge alive.
The Finn, who was fastest in first practice before joining 21 of his colleagues in shunning the second, said: "The car felt good straight away and we will just have to wait and see what the weather does.
"I like Spa and this is an important weekend for me and the team. We will continue to focus on winning the race - whether it is wet or dry."
Only three cars left the pits in the course of yesterday's one-hour session - and one of those never made it back.
Vitantonio Liuzzi was the first man to dare to venture out on track and he soon paid the price for his bravery. After tip-toeing through the ultra-fast Eau Rouge section, the Italian was caught out under braking for Les Combes. The rear of his Red Bull snapped out of control on the sodden track, pitching him into one barrier and then another and sending a clear warning to the rest of the drivers.
Robert Doornbos was the only other man on track at the time and he slowly trundled back to the pits while Alonso came out for one lap only because he missed first practice.
Formula One's leading drivers have vowed to disappoint a near capacity crowd if the forecast of rain tomorrow rings true.
BAR-Honda star Jenson Button said: "If it is raining like that no, we can't race on Sunday. It would be too wet, definitely.
"It is dangerous. You are not in control of the car in any way. If you hit a big puddle like Liuzzi did that's it, it could be a massive accident. You are not in control and that's not what we're here to do.
Outgoing world champion Michael Schumacher, who had wanted rain to level the playing field and give him a better chance of victory, echoed Button's fears. "It is hard to tell you how difficult it is driving in these conditions," he said. "We probably needed a propeller to make it through this amount of water.
"It is too much rain. In these conditions nobody can drive except maybe the safety car. Maybe we would do a race under the safety car, but a normal race in these conditions is not possible."
