Wurz Fastest in Practice 1

Wurz set a time of 1:21.411 to lead Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello by 1.423 seconds with Briton Jenson Button third fastest for BAR-Honda, 1.617 seconds behind the Austrian.

Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who is in desperate need of a win this weekend, finished fourth fastest in the second McLaren but he was 1.748 seconds off his teammate's pace and just ahead of World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Felipe Massa finished sixth for Sauber with Nick Heidfeld seventh in the lead Williams and Juan Pablo Montoya down in eighth place after McLaren had looked set to claim a one-two-three finish with two minutes of the session to run.

Takuma Sato finished eighth in the second BAR-Honda and Ralf Schumacher completed the top ten for Toyota as champion elect Fernando Alonso finished 12th fastest for Renault.

Israeli Chanoch Nissany took to the track to become the first driver from his country to take part in a Grand Prix meeting and the first driver over the age of 40 since Nigel Mansell retired in 1995.

But the Budapest resident, who turned 42 on the day of his debut, struggled to learn the track layout and finished last in the session on a time some 12 seconds off the pace having spun into the gravel with 16 minutes to go.

Wurz set the pace early on ahead of Zonta as just four drivers set a time in the first 20 minutes and with 20 minute to run only seven drivers had set a time and four, the two Ferraris and two Toyotas, had not even gone out the garage.

Nicolas Kiesa, in his second race as Jordan's third driver, spun early on in the session at turn 13 then both Zonta and Vitantonio Liuzzi, in the third Red Bull, spun at turn one then spun again six minutes later at turn 11.

Nissany, who had missed the apex of many corners during his seven previous laps, finally slid wide at turn four, half-spun into the gravel trap and was craned away inside his car with his session concluded 16 minutes early.

Button moved into second ahead of Schumacher, who went off at turn 11, and Liuzzi, pushing Zonta down to sixth with 10 minutes left to run but Wurz was still well out in front.

Zonta went off again, this time at turn 14, then Kiesa spun off at turn four, sliding through the same gravel trap that stopped Nissany and being forced to leave his car and walk away.

Pos  Driver        Team                   Time                   Laps
 1.  Wurz          McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:21.411                20
 2.  Barrichello   Ferrari           (B)  1:22.834  +    1.423     8
 3.  Button        BAR-Honda         (M)  1:23.028  +    1.617    12
 4.  Raikkonen     McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:23.159  +    1.748     7
 5.  M.Schumacher  Ferrari           (B)  1:23.234  +    1.823     8
 6.  Massa         Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:23.375  +    1.964    10
 7.  Heidfeld      Williams-BMW      (M)  1:23.384  +    1.973     8
 8.  Montoya       McLaren-Mercedes  (M)  1:23.558  +    2.147     7
 9.  Sato          BAR-Honda         (M)  1:23.679  +    2.268    11
10.  R.Schumacher  Toyota            (M)  1:23.706  +    2.295     6
11.  Trulli        Toyota            (M)  1:23.764  +    2.353     8
12.  Alonso        Renault           (M)  1:23.833  +    2.422    10
13.  Webber        Williams-BMW      (M)  1:23.918  +    2.507     8
14.  Fisichella    Renault           (M)  1:23.940  +    2.529     9
15.  Liuzzi        Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  1:24.174  +    2.763    19
16.  Zonta         Toyota            (M)  1:24.270  +    2.859    18
17.  Villeneuve    Sauber-Petronas   (M)  1:24.683  +    3.272    10
18.  Karthikeyan   Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:26.130  +    4.719    14
19.  Doornbos      Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:27.011  +    5.600    16
20.  Monteiro      Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:27.344  +    5.933     8
21.  Albers        Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:27.540  +    6.129     8
22.  Kiesa         Jordan-Toyota     (B)  1:28.230  +    6.819    19
23.  Nissany       Minardi-Cosworth  (B)  1:34.319  +   12.908     8
24.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  no time                  1
25.  Klien         Red Bull-Cosworth (M)  no time                  1

All timing unofficial