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Saturday Second Free Practice - Hungarian GP

Schumacher hoping for the pole

Schumacher hoping for the pole

An impressive six-tenths of a second margin over his McLaren rivals, during the final free practice session, sees Michael Schumacher going into the qualifying session this afternoon with high hopes of pole position. Rubens Barrichello took the third fastest time of the session and eight tenths of a second behind his teammate, saying later that he was still not happy with the balance of his car after both had worked on fine tuning their chassis throughout the session. Like all the field, with the exception of Pedro De La Rosa, both Ferrari drivers had gone for the softer of the two tyre options considering qualifying performance more important than race performance on the hard to overtake circuit.

Coulthard still ahead for McLaren

It was again David Coulthard who took the quickest time of the two McLaren Mercedes, the Scotsman reasonably happy with the performance of his car despite two off-course excursions during the session that did no damage to his car. Mika Hakkinen was unable to find the right balance with his car despite constant chassis changes throughout the session. He was unable to better sixth fastest, over a second of Schumacher?s time, which does not bode well for a good qualifying time. When he tried new tyres, it upset the balance he had worked hard to achieve.

Frentzen up to fourth for Jordan

Heinz Harald Frentzen got his car going better this morning taking the fourth fastest time of the session on a fresh set of tyres. Later he had a nasty moment when he ran wide onto the pit straight and banged the undertray of his car. Although he had improved the handling, he was worried about tyre wear on two points of the track where understeer was causing problems. Jarno Trulli, seventh quickest this morning, also experienced understeer trouble.

Ralf well up for Williams

The Williams-BMW continues to go well on this track, Ralf Schumacher fifth fastest this morning with Jenson Button in 11th place. Schumacher was happy with his car but for too much understeer in some corners while Button was also content, but complaining of oversteer. He also had a spin, which prevented him setting a quicker lap.

Giancarlo Fisichella well placed for Benetton

Despite slipping back to eighth place in the overall standings this morning, Giancarlo Fisichella was confident of scoring a top 10 placing in qualifying his only complaint being understeer through the last two corners of the track. Wurz complained that the understeer on his car was preventing from getting the most from his tyres.

In brief...

Mika Salo was happy with his car but not his time this morning, his best lap was spoiled by David Coulthard going off, although he still managed ninth place. Diniz also made the top 10, losing time at the start of the session when he had an engine problem, which was sorted out in the pits. Later he lost more time when his engine cut out coming into the pits leaving him stuck in first gear. He also complained that his Sauber was not an easy car to drive on this track.

Although Eddie Irvine could not better 12th fastest this morning, he was confident of a good qualifying time, Herbert back in fifteenth place still complaining that the handling of his car was too nervous around this circuit. Although only 13th fastest this morning, Jacques Villeneuve thought he had made good progress with his car's performance after working on springs and roll bar rates throughout the session. Zonta tried different tyres and didn't better 19th fastest. The Prost drivers complained of no grip, Alesi taking 14th fastest and Heidfeld a distant 20th this morning.

Pos Driver Team Times 1. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:17.395 184.896 km/h 2. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1:18.025 + 0.630 3. Barrichello Ferrari 1:18.268 + 0.873 4. Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:18.411 + 1.016 5. R.Schumacher Williams BMW 1:18.430 + 1.035 6. Hakkinen McLaren Mercedes 1:18.467 + 1.072 7. Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda 1:18.503 + 1.108 8. Fisichella Benetton Playlife 1:18.561 + 1.166 9. Salo Sauber Petronas 1:18.793 + 1.398 10. Diniz Sauber Petronas 1:19.006 + 1.611 11. Button Williams BMW 1:19.024 + 1.629 12. Irvine Jaguar Cosworth 1:19.312 + 1.917 13. Villeneuve BAR Honda 1:19.560 + 2.165 14. Alesi Prost Peugeot 1:19.951 + 2.556 15. Herbert Jaguar Cosworth 1:19.972 + 2.577 16. Verstappen Arrows Supertec 1:20.049 + 2.654 17. de la Rosa Arrows Supertec 1:20.192 + 2.797 18. Wurz Benetton Playlife 1:20.403 + 3.008 19. Zonta BAR Honda 1:20.515 + 3.120 20. Heidfeld Prost Peugeot 1:20.682 + 3.287 21. Gene Minardi Fondmetal 1:20.784 + 3.389 22. Mazzacane Minardi Fondmetal 1:21.069 + 3.674 All timing unofficial

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