Minardi Duo Happy with Friday's Work

Italian Gianmaria Bruni was happy with the start of his Brazilian Grand Prix weekend after finishing down in 20th position with his Minardi.

"We had a good opening day," said Bruni. "This is my first time in Brazil and I spent much of today learning the circuit. I think I adapted quite well, and I'm now looking forward to tomorrow, when I'm sure we can improve in some areas and be even quicker."

Bruni finished in front of both a Jordan and a Jaguar, which was an encouraging effort for the struggling Anglo-Italian squad. Bruni's teammate Zsolt Baumgartner also had a positive day on his first visit to the Interlagos circuit.

The Hungarian driver was 23rd quickest.

"Generally, it was a good day for us, although I made a mistake on what should have been my fastest lap this afternoon, which probably cost me half a second," said Baumgartner.

"The Interlagos circuit is new to me, and apart from being very bumpy in places, I quite like it and feel confident of being able to improve my lap time further tomorrow."