Mixed emotions for Panis and da Matta

Panis lapped in 1m21.770s this morning, six-tenths quicker than today's fastest qualifying time, but he could only manage 1m22.986s this afternoon when it mattered, which was good for seventh.

"Seventh place is a respectable result, however I am not really satisfied," said Panis. "I was really impressed by the competitiveness of the car this morning and the grip that we had, but for whatever reason the grip levels were not as good we had this afternoon.

"The Hungaroring is very dusty of the first day of the weekend, so it is not unusual for the track to change so much between sessions. Although I expected to do a bit better, we should still be encouraged by the start to this weekend."

His team-mate Cristiano da Matta had also looked strong in free practice, but his first qualifying was ruined by a strange spin at the penultimate hairpin, when his Toyota swapped ends for no apparent reason.

"I don't really know exactly what happened to cause me to spin towards the end of my lap," he said. "It could have been a failure of the traction control. It didn't feel like I made a mistake, but it happened so quickly we'll have to look into it. I had already gone through the difficult part at the entry of the corner, where the car can be a bit oversteery, so it was quite a strange spin."