Brighter day for Benetton

Fisichella ended the two hour-long sessions in 11th place, 1.7secs slower than Eddie Irvine's quickest time, with team mate Jenson Button a further 0.4secs and four places behind in 15th.

"It was a quite good day and we are pleased with the way things have gone," said Fisichella. "We had a small gearbox problem during the first session, but the car has been well balanced from the start and I think we can be consistently quick here.

"We have made some improvements and found more grip and I am sure we will be competitive tomorrow," he added. "It is a nice feeling to have on a Friday and I am looking forward to qualifying."

Button complained of oversteer in the morning, which led to an early spin at the Ayrton Senna chicane. The Briton is still searching for his first points finish of the 2001 season.

"The biggest problem we had this morning was oversteer, especially in the stadium section," said Button. "I was quite a long way off Giancarlo, but we were running different kinds of tyre, which might have had something to do with it.

"By the end of the session most of the oversteer had been cured, but the bit that remained was still costing me some time. Overall I don't think we are too bad and Giancarlo's position hints at our true potential. Generally the car has worked well and Michelin has come up with a very effective tyre," he added.

Benetton's director of engineering Pat Symonds was also happy with progress on the first day in Germany.

"We ran a reasonably high fuel load all the way through the session because we are concentrating on race set-up, and we have completed some good tyre evaluations," he said. "The car looks quite competitive in low-downforce trim and we look forward to a successful weekend."