Friday August 30th, 2002
First practice for Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix will start at 12:00pm local time, but the session will only be 30 minutes long, instead of the usual 60 minutes.
Race organisers prevented cars from taking to the track for safety reasons because the medical helicopter would not be able to land at a hospital in the event of an accident.
First practice, which was scheduled to start at 11:00am local time, will finish at 12:30pm, while the second practice session will take place as normal from 13:00 to 14:00 Belgian time.
The organisers said, however, that the new practice times were "subject to a deterioration of the weather". Last year, Saturday's first free practice was cancelled due to fog.
Published at 09:56:33 GMT