Summary
A heavy rain shower just at the start of the first free practice session for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix provided some relief from the previous day's heat-wave as well as some action on the track as the drivers coped with the slippery conditions - some better than others. As the track conditions changed from wet to damp throughout the session the times gradually tumbled with the two McLaren drivers Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard setting the best times shortly before the end of the session. "There was not a lot to be learned because of the conditions," said Coulthard, "especially as it forecast to be hot again tomorrow and for the race. I was surprised to be so quick as I really wasn't pushing hard and just staying out of trouble," he added. Both the McLaren drivers stayed on wet tyres throughout.
Schumacher a close third for Scuderia-Marlboro-Ferrari.
Michael Schumacher showed some impressive car control in the wet with his Ferrari, especially during one spin at the chicane where he kept the car travelling down the track and continued on without coming to a stop. Eddie Irvine was also well placed in the fifth fastest showing of the session. Unlike Silverstone, Goodyear have brought two wet tyres to this race and one intermediate with a wider front tyre in order to cope with possible varying conditions in case of a wet race. The team have brought two types of bodywork to this race, one with extra cooling holes in the sidepods in the case of a hot race and the other "standard" bodywork which will be used for qualifying. Both drivers ran the revised bodywork this morning despite the cooler conditions. Both drivers used only one type of wet tyre during the session.
Fisichella fourth for Benetton.
The Benetton team concentrated on a wet set-up this morning as well as balancing the cars with their new longer wheelbase configuration and revised rear suspension which they tested in Silverstone. They also worked on brake modifications to prevent locking up and a mixed set-up for the conditions using the new wider front wet tyres. Fisichella set the fourth fastest time despite a spin just before the end, while Wurz had a more troubled time with no less than four off-road excursions, all without any damage to his car. He was only ninth fastest.
Hill sixth for Jordan.
Despite not trying too hard because of the conditions, Damon Hill was sixth fastest for Jordan saying that he had no problems throughout the session other than one harmless spin. Ralf Schumacher also spun off, but stopped his session on the spot when he hit the tyre barrier damaging the front left suspension and nose cone of his car.
Frentzen fastest for Williams.
After successfully modifying his car's set-up in Jerez testing last week. Frentzen was not so happy this morning when some of the modifications were not included for here. He was seventh fastest and Villeneuve 10th, the Canadian trying intermediate tyres right at the end and running a couple of tenth's up on the first split time, but unable to complete the lap as the flag had already fallen. "The idea was to check at what point it would be best to change from wets to intermediates as far as performance was concerned," said Jacques.
In Brief...
Rubens Barrichello managed only five laps before being sidelined by a gearbox bearing problem. Johnny Herbert also sat out most of the session because of a cracked exhaust on his Sauber which was repaired in time for one lap at the end of the session. Alesi was also well down, Sauber deciding to only give Alesi four laps as there was little point wearing the car out in the conditions when it was expected to be dry for the rest of the weekend.
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