Schumacher Hopeful despite Lost Time

The Ferrari driver stopped early in the session with a suspected electrical problem - but has been left encouraged by the speed of their car in the first session and teammate Rubens Barrichello seventh fastest time in the afternoon.

"Missing time is not very helpful but I have been here so often I know the track quite well," said Schumacher. "If we look at the consistency it didn't look too bad, so maybe it is good enough for more (than the seventh Barrichello got).

"If you look at the time over one lap maybe it looks like seventh is possible. In general, for the start of a weekend it looks a bit better than it has done in the last few races.

"But I don't know what that means for the race because we have seen before that when we are good on Friday it doesn't necessarily mean we will be good in the race. I don't dare to predict."

Ferrari's lack of pace in single-lap qualifying, and the difficulties drivers face in overtaking at the Hungaroring, makes it likely that the team are going to face a struggle to hit the front this weekend.

Despite those factors, however, Schumacher believes that a good strategy will be key to their fortunes.

"You need a big speed difference to overtake with these cars so it doesn't matter what track you are on," he said. "If you don't have the speed difference you cannot overtake on any track.

"With these cars you have to be much faster to overtake so you have to make your race with the strategy. For me, in terms of strategy, it is much more important to be at  the front at the end than at the beginning."