Free practice 2: Schuey remains on top

Rain is not something that Formula 1 is used to in Hungary, but that is what the teams were faced with during this session. Light showers made conditions tricky and there were plenty of spins and crashes spread between nearly all of the 20 drivers.

Schumacher went even faster in the second session, as track conditions improved despite the drizzle, setting the quickest mark at 1m16.346s. Barrichello also went faster, but his 1m16.952s was some six-tenths in arrears of the champion elect.

The Ferrari duo were not immune to the off-track excursions, with Schumacher rotating at Turn 13 and Barrichello going through the gravel at Turns 4 and 6. Both David Coulthard (McLaren) and Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) also visited the gravel at Turn 4, but DC followed this up with a spin at Turn 6 which appeared to rip his left-rear tyre off the rim.

Sauber recorded the biggest shunts of the session, however. Nick Heidfeld lost control of his car on the exit of Turn 4 and spun into the Armco on the opposite side of the track. Team-mate Felipe Massa then produced a carbon copy of the accident with less than a minute remaining, taking a couple of corners of his car. Massa ended the session eighth fastest, with Heidfeld down in 17th.

Williams-BMW's Ralf Schumacher left it late to set the third fastest time on 1m17.228s, while team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya languished down in 16th having spun off into the Turn 9 gravel trap near the end of the session. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest for McLaren-Mercedes on a 1m17.298s, with team-mate Coulthard back in seventh after losing track time with his earlier puncture problem.

Jordan's F1 rookie Takuma Sato got as high as fourth quickest halfway through the session, but experienced team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella then took up the running for the Silverstone-based team to set the sixth fastest time, a second off the leading pace, with 'Taku' right behind him.

Jaguar enjoyed an encouraging day, with Pedro de la Rosa in ninth and Eddie Irvine 13th. Renault was a below par 10th and 11th, with Button once again outpacing Trulli. British American Racing was next up, with Villeneuve 12th and Olivier Panis 14th, while Toyota was disappointing with Mika Salo (15th) and Allan McNish (18th).

Minardi newboy Anthony Davidson impressively eclipsed team-mate Mark Webber on his Formula 1 debut, and ended the day just a few hundredths faster than the Australian. Davidson only made one major error all day, outbraking himself at Turn 6 and opting to run through the gravel. All in all, not bad for his first day at big school.