Friday Second Free Practice

Finn Kimi Raikkonen showed McLaren-Mercedes mean business this weekend after setting the fastest time of the day in second practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

Raikkonen, whose team are having an end-of-season resurgence after introducing their new MP4-19B machine at the French Grand Prix, finished with a time of 1:20.884 to better the best of World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Schumacher had posted the fastest time early in the session then improved on it several times during the hour to keep ahead of the opposition but eventually finished 0.125 seconds slower than Raikkonen.

Schumacher's time put him ahead of third-placed Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya, driving a Williams car with revised aerodynamics this weekend, with the second McLaren of David Coulthard in fourth. Frenchman Olivier Panis, of Toyota, finished fifth fastest with Japanese driver Takuma Sato and Briton Jenson Button sixth and eighth respectively for the BAR-Honda team.

Williams driver Antonio Pizzonia, standing in for the injured Ralf Schumacher, finished seventh fastest while Brazilian Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello and Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault completed the top ten.

Italian Minardi driver Gianmaria Bruni spun into the gravel trap at turn one with just two minutes of the session gone and his car has to be craned away by a tractor as the yellow flags were waved to the cars on track.

Schumacher put in an early lap and set a benchmark time of 1:22.944 which was almost one-and-a-half seconds slower than the time he set in the sunnier and warmer morning session.

Barrichello then moved to the top when he bettered Schumacher by six tenths and the pair continued to improve their times as the track temperature rose. Then Pizzonia moved to the top after shaving a tenth off Barrichello's best.

Schumacher then went top despite following the Jaguar of Mark Webber in the final corner before the run to the line and his time bettered his morning best by one thousandth of a second. Montoya went fastest with 13 minutes of the session remaining but Schumacher immediately hit back as he took the times down towards the one minute and 20 seconds mark before Raikkonen hit the top.

Several drivers went off track, including Coulthard, Renault pair Alonso and Italian Jarno Trulli, Sauber pair Giancarlo Fisichella, of Italy, and Brazilian Felipe Massa and Panis.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:20.884 20 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 1:21.009 + 0.125 30 3. Montoya Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.185 + 0.301 24 4. Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes (M) 1:21.203 + 0.319 19 5. Panis Toyota (M) 1:21.352 + 0.468 23 6. Sato BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.364 + 0.480 22 7. Pizzonia Williams-BMW (M) 1:21.574 + 0.690 26 8. Button BAR-Honda (M) 1:21.685 + 0.801 19 9. Barrichello Ferrari (B) 1:21.712 + 0.828 19 10. Alonso Renault (M) 1:21.948 + 1.064 22 11. Webber Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:21.999 + 1.115 33 12. Davidson BAR-Honda (M) 1:22.356 + 1.472 34 13. Wirdheim Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:22.559 + 1.675 23 14. Heidfeld Jordan-Ford (B) 1:22.651 + 1.767 19 15. Glock Jordan-Ford (B) 1:22.697 + 1.813 21 16. Fisichella Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:22.743 + 1.859 23 17. Trulli Renault (M) 1:22.788 + 1.904 28 18. Zonta Toyota (M) 1:22.808 + 1.924 28 19. Pantano Jordan-Ford (B) 1:22.937 + 2.053 22 20. Klien Jaguar-Cosworth (M) 1:23.003 + 2.119 30 21. Briscoe Toyota (M) 1:23.170 + 2.286 22 22. Massa Sauber-Petronas (B) 1:23.188 + 2.304 20 23. Leinders Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:25.339 + 4.455 17 24. Baumgartner Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:25.450 + 4.566 16 25. Bruni Minardi-Cosworth (B) 1:26.365 + 5.481 4 All timing unofficial