Minardi Hoping for More Rain

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart is hoping for more rain tomorrow following two wet Friday practice sessions for the French Grand Prix.

"It's clear both our drivers and our cars react well in these conditions, helped enormously by our Bridgestone tyres," said Stoddart at the end of the day. "Let's hope these conditions prevail, as they will allow Minardi to fight for a higher-than-normal grid position."

Italian Gianmaria Bruni was seventh quickest in the opening practice session, but both him and his Hungarian teammate Zsolt Baumgartner got back to their usual back-of-the-grid positions in the second hour.

Bruni finished down in 22nd while Baumgartner, who scored Minardi's first point of the season in the US Grand Prix, was 24th.

"I was happy with the wet conditions and didn't find the track too bad at all," said Baumgartner. "The mechanics had to work really hard changing tyres and resetting the car as the track surface either became wet or dried out. They did a great job.

"I was a little bit upset that I wasn't able to achieve the lap time that we felt should have been possible today, but I was happy with my performance in the wet conditions. We'll be hoping for some rain in the race."