Friday August 16th, 2002

By Will Gray

World Champion Michael Schumacher proved that little has changed during Formula One's three-week summer break when he led a Ferrari one-two in the first practice session at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

Schumacher, who could set a record for the most wins in a season with victory at the Hungaroring on Sunday, finished the session more than three tenths faster than Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

And the Ferrari team showed their dominance is set to continue by finishing more than a second faster than their closest rivals at the track where they scored a one-two to win the Drivers' and Constructors' World Championship last year.

Schumacher's time of 1:16.755 around the high-downforce circuit was 1.633 seconds faster than third placed driver Felipe Massa, Sauber's young Brazilian hopeful. The cool conditions, which saw track temperature rising to just 28 degrees, suited the Bridgestone tyres with the top six runners all running on rubber from the Japanese company.

It was good for Honda too, with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve, of British American Racing Honda, fourth fastest, Italian Giancarlo Fisichella in the Jordan Honda fifth and the second BAR Honda of Olivier Panis in sixth.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen was the first Michelin runner in seventh for McLaren-Mercedes, with German Nick Heidfeld eighth in the Bridgestone-shod Sauber while Michelin runners David Coulthard, ninth in the second McLaren-Mercedes, and Ralf Schumacher of Williams-BMW completed the top ten.

For the first time since 1995 there were five British drivers taking part in practice after the arrival of England's Anthony Davidson at the Minardi team ensured the Brits made up 25 percent of the grid.

But it was not a successful session for them with Coulthard the fastest in ninth place as Jenson Button put his Renault up to 11th while Eddie Irvine was down in 17th spot for Jaguar.

Scot Allan McNish was even slower, finishing 19th for Toyota, while Davidson finished his first session in Formula One at the bottom of the pile but was within a second of Australian teammate Mark Webber after pulling off the track at the end of the session with a mechanical problem.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                    Laps
 1.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:16.755  186.437 km/h  21 
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:17.122    +    0.367  13 
 3.  Massa         Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:18.388    +    1.633  22 
 4.  Villeneuve    BAR Honda         (B)  1:18.388    +    1.633  25 
 5.  Fisichella    Jordan Honda      (B)  1:18.452    +    1.697  14 
 6.  Panis         BAR Honda         (B)  1:18.861    +    2.106  24 
 7.  Raikkonen     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:19.041    +    2.286  13 
 8.  Heidfeld      Sauber Petronas   (B)  1:19.051    +    2.296  21 
 9.  Coulthard     McLaren Mercedes  (M)  1:19.125    +    2.370  13 
10.  R.Schumacher  Williams BMW      (M)  1:19.193    +    2.438  17 
11.  Button        Renault           (M)  1:19.247    +    2.492  15 
12.  Sato          Jordan Honda      (B)  1:19.322    +    2.567  21 
13.  de la Rosa    Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:19.390    +    2.635  18 
14.  Trulli        Renault           (M)  1:19.663    +    2.908  15 
15.  Montoya       Williams BMW      (M)  1:19.813    +    3.058  18 
16.  Salo          Toyota            (M)  1:19.884    +    3.129  12 
17.  Irvine        Jaguar Cosworth   (M)  1:20.112    +    3.357  12 
18.  Webber        Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:21.027    +    4.272  14 
19.  McNish        Toyota            (M)  1:21.027    +    4.272  15 
20.  Davidson      Minardi Asiatech  (M)  1:21.948    +    5.193  25

All Timing Unofficial

Published at 10:03:35 GMT

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