Trulli Fastest in First Qualifying - Hungarian GP

Italian Jarno Trulli topped the times in Friday's qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix after narrowly outpacing Ralf Schumacher at the Hungaroring.

Williams-BMW's Schumacher took top spot only for Renault driver Trulli to go five-hundredths of a second quicker to set the pace with a lap time of 1:22.358.

Jaguar driver Mark Webber continued to underline his potential with another strong qualifying performance to finish third ahead of McLaren driver David Coulthard. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello was fifth ahead of Fernando Alonso's Renault and Toyota driver Olivier Panis, quickest in practice, was seventh.

Championship contender Juan Pablo Montoya set the eighth best time ahead of title rival Michael Schumacher, while Nick Heidfeld completed the top ten for Sauber. Kimi Raikkonen, third in the title standings, was a disappointing 12th quickest, while Justin Wilson was 15th - more than a second and a half behind teammate Webber.

Championship leader Michael Schumacher was the first man on track and he set a benchmark time of 1:23.430, which was immediately beaten by Montoya, who went one tenth quicker. Kimi Raikkonen was unable to better Montoya's lap after losing time in the second sector, and the McLaren completed his lap almost four-tenths down.

Ralf Schumacher produced a good lap and took top spot from Montoya with a lap time 0.8 seconds quicker, while Barrichello took second - 0.479 seconds down. Alonso slotted into third place after his run before Coulthard, who was confirmed for 2004 today, discovered his qualifying form to go second in the times.

Renault's Trulli set the fastest time in the final sector to better Ralf Schumacher's time by five-hundredths of a second and take top spot. Jaguar's Webber moved into third place with another impressive qualifying performance and Toyota's Olivier Panis continued his form as he slotted in between Alonso and Montoya.

Panis' teammate Cristiano da Matta, however, was out of luck as he spun at turn 13 on his quick lap and lost 30 seconds and ended bottom of the times.

Pos Driver Team T1 T2 Time 1. (8) Trulli Renault (M) 29.231 59.142 1:22.358 2. (4) R.Schumacher Williams BMW (M) 29.208 58.907 1:22.413 + 0.055 3. (10) Webber Jaguar Cosworth (M) 29.559 59.125 1:22.625 + 0.267 4. (7) Coulthard McLaren Mercedes (M) 29.394 59.308 1:22.786 + 0.428 5. (5) Barrichello Ferrari (B) 29.418 59.045 1:22.892 + 0.534 6. (6) Alonso Renault (M) 29.519 59.492 1:22.953 + 0.595 7. (14) Panis Toyota (M) 29.361 59.361 1:22.986 + 0.628 8. (2) Montoya Williams BMW (M) 29.565 59.714 1:23.305 + 0.947 9. (1) M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 29.442 59.501 1:23.430 + 1.072 10. (16) Heidfeld Sauber Petronas (B) 30.011 59.756 1:23.482 + 1.124 11. (13) Frentzen Sauber Petronas (B) 29.261 59.606 1:23.660 + 1.302 12. (3) Raikkonen McLaren Mercedes (M) 29.432 59.605 1:23.695 + 1.337 13. (9) Button BAR Honda (B) 30.014 60.440 1:24.313 + 1.955 14. (15) Villeneuve BAR Honda (B) 29.855 60.169 1:24.333 + 1.975 15. (19) Wilson Jaguar Cosworth (M) 30.508 60.665 1:24.343 + 1.985 16. (11) Fisichella Jordan Ford (B) 30.269 60.664 1:24.725 + 2.367 17. (17) Firman Jordan Ford (B) 30.437 61.150 1:25.223 + 2.865 18. (18) Verstappen Minardi Cosworth (B) 30.839 61.799 1:26.052 + 3.694 19. (20) Kiesa Minardi Cosworth (B) 30.738 62.803 1:27.023 + 4.665 20. (12) da Matta Toyota (M) 29.658 59.977 1:55.138 +32.780 Pos ----- Sector 1 ----- ----- Sector 2 ----- ----- Sector 3 ----- 1. R.Schumacher 29.208 Webber 29.566 Trulli 23.216 2. Trulli 29.231 Barrichello 29.627 Alonso 23.461 3. Frentzen 29.261 R.Schumacher 29.699 Coulthard 23.478 4. Panis 29.361 Heidfeld 29.745 Webber 23.500 5. Coulthard 29.394 Trulli 29.911 R.Schumacher 23.506 6. Barrichello 29.418 Coulthard 29.914 Montoya 23.591 7. Raikkonen 29.432 Alonso 29.973 Panis 23.625 8. M.Schumacher 29.442 Panis 30.000 Wilson 23.678 9. Alonso 29.519 M.Schumacher 30.059 Heidfeld 23.726 10. Webber 29.559 Montoya 30.149 Barrichello 23.847 11. Montoya 29.565 Wilson 30.157 Button 23.873 12. da Matta 29.658 Raikkonen 30.173 M.Schumacher 23.929 13. Villeneuve 29.855 Villeneuve 30.314 Frentzen 24.054 14. Heidfeld 30.011 da Matta 30.319 Fisichella 24.061 15. Button 30.014 Frentzen 30.345 Firman 24.073 16. Fisichella 30.269 Fisichella 30.395 Raikkonen 24.090 17. Firman 30.437 Button 30.426 Villeneuve 24.164 18. Wilson 30.508 Firman 30.713 Kiesa 24.220 19. Kiesa 30.738 Verstappen 30.960 Verstappen 24.253 20. Verstappen 30.839 Kiesa 32.065 da Matta 55.161 Top Speed: 298.9 km/h(da Matta, Toyota) All timing unofficial