Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) a été le plus rapide de la première séance d’essais libres du vendredi en Belgique. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) a fait le 2e temps de l’avant-midi. Jenson Button (McLaren) est 3e et Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) est 4e.
Cette fin de semaine Bruno Senna remplace Nick Heidfeld chez Lotus-Renault.
| 1 | 7 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:54.355 | 13 | |
| 2 | 8 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:54.829 | 0.474 | 15 |
| 3 | 4 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:02.740 | 8.385 | 8 |
| 4 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 2:03.752 | 9.397 | 10 |
| 5 | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 2:04.301 | 9.946 | 7 |
| 6 | 14 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 2:04.663 | 10.308 | 18 |
| 7 | 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 2:04.728 | 10.373 | 10 |
| 8 | 11 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 2:05.391 | 11.036 | 12 |
| 9 | 19 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 2:06.583 | 12.228 | 16 |
| 10 | 16 | Kamui Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:06.886 | 12.531 | 15 |
| 11 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 2:07.055 | 12.700 | 12 |
| 12 | 17 | Sergio Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 2:07.481 | 13.126 | 15 |
| 13 | 21 | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Renault | 2:08.233 | 13.878 | 14 |
| 14 | 18 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 2:08.239 | 13.884 | 14 |
| 15 | 12 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 2:08.918 | 14.563 | 10 |
| 16 | 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 2:09.792 | 15.437 | 8 |
| 17 | 24 | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 2:12.278 | 17.923 | 13 |
| 18 | 23 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | 2:12.389 | 18.034 | 10 |
| 19 | 25 | Jerome d’Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 2:12.772 | 18.417 | 13 |
| 20 | 15 | Paul di Resta | Force India-Mercedes | 2:13.058 | 18.703 | 8 |
| 21 | 20 | Karun Chandhok | Lotus-Renault | 2:13.090 | 18.735 | 11 |
| 22 | 10 | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 2:13.601 | 19.246 | 10 |
| 23 | 9 | Bruno Senna | Renault | 2:14.340 | 19.985 | 7 |
| 24 | 22 | Daniel Ricciardo | HRT-Cosworth | 2:14.933 | 20.578 | 11 |