Renault Trio on Top in Friday Test in Hungary
Spaniard Fernando Alonso led the now customary Renault first, second and third as Jordan suffered a disaster session in Friday's private testing session ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Spaniard Fernando Alonso led the now customary Renault first, second and third as Jordan suffered a disaster session in Friday's private testing session ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.
Alonso, who was confirmed to remain at Renault alongside teammate Jarno Trulli in 2004, finished with a time of 1:22.230 to beat Scottish test driver Allan McNish by more than half a second with Trulli 0.862 seconds back in third.
The Jaguar of Mark Webber, who was confident of his chances ahead of Sunday's race, finished fourth with a time some 1.518 seconds slower than Alonso's lap on the slightly revised Hungaroring circuit.
Webber beat teammate Justin Wilson, who joined Jaguar at the last race in Germany, by a little more than four tenths of a second, with Dutchman Jos Verstappen sixth in the leading Minardi.
That left the leading Jordan - of Hungarian test driver Zsolt Baumgartner - down in seventh despite a spin, with race drivers Ralph Firman and Giancarlo Fisichella ninth and 11th after struggling during the session.
New Minardi driver Nicolas Kiesa, who replaced the departed Wilson at the last race, beat Firman and Minardi's Italian test driver Gianmaria Bruni pushed Fisichella down to the bottom of the timesheets.
Three of the eight Cosworth-powered runners in the session suffered engine failures with Fisichella stopping early in the session and Webber and Kiesa coming to a halt later on.
Fisichella eventually made it back on to the track again with less than ten minutes of the session to go but he was left with a long walk home almost immediately after another problem on his Jordan machine.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps 1. Alonso Renault (M) 1:22.230 191.930 km/h 42 2. McNish Renault (M) 1:22.855 + 0.625 42 3. Trulli Renault (M) 1:23.092 + 0.862 43 4. Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:23.748 + 1.518 27 5. Wilson Jaguar Cosworth (M) 1:24.209 + 1.979 40 6. Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:25.321 + 3.091 28 7. Baumgartner Jordan Ford (B) 1:26.006 + 3.776 39 8. Kiesa Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:26.252 + 4.022 34 9. Firman Jordan Ford (B) 1:26.600 + 4.370 38 10. Bruni Minardi Cosworth (B) 1:27.036 + 4.806 30 11. Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 1:27.399 + 5.169 7 All Timing Unofficial
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