For the Toyota F1 team the opening qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix would be one of mixed fortunes with Olivier Panis finishing in seventh but team-mate Da Matta would be last after having made a mistake which would see him spin at turn thirteen.

The qualifying session would see the drivers run in championship order, with Michael Schumacher running first, followed by Juan Pablo, Raikkonen, Ralf, and Rubens Barrichello.

Michael would start his lap and sets a 29.4 in sector one, ending the lap with a benchmark time of 1m:23.430. Next would be Juan Pablo and the Colombian would be down on the sector one time, again slower in the middle sector, ending the lap 0.125sec. off the pace with a lap time of 1m:23.430. For Raikkonen his lap would see him fastest in sector one, loses some time during sector two, loses further more time in the third sector and finishes third, a 1m:23.695.

Next would be Ralf and he would start his flying lap well with the fastest sector one time of 29.2 seconds. he would continue this pace in the final sectors to go fastest with a time of 1m:22.413, 0.8 seconds faster than Juan Pablo. Rubens Barrichello was next out on his flying lap and would finish second with a time of 1m:22.892, 0.479sec. slower than Ralf.

The next group would see Renault's Fernando Alonso first out. He would equal Juan Pablo's sector one time, ending the lap third a 1m:22.953, 0.5sec off the pace. After having been announced as staying with McLaren in 2004 next out would be David Coulthard. He would set a good sector one time of 29.3, finishing second with a 1m:22.786, 0.373 down on Ralf.

Next out was Jarno Trulli. He would match Ralf's sector one time but would pick up time in the final sectors, setting the fastest sector three time, seeing him take first position with a time of 1m:22.358. BAR's Jenson Button would be over 0.7sec. down in sector one, finishing ninth, 1.955 off the pace.

For Jaguar's Mark Webber's his lap would see him set 29.5 in sector one, the fastest time in sector two with a 29.5, finishing in third with a time of 1m:22.625. Jordan's Giancarlo Fisichella would be the slowest so far in sector one, finishing in eleventh with a time of 1m:24.725, 2.3 seconds off the pace. For Toyota's Cristiano da Matta his lap would see him making a mistake which would see him spins in turn thirteen, losing some thirty seconds, seeing him go last.

For Sauber's Heinz-Harald Frentzen he would finish an encouraging ninth with a time of 1m:23.660 and would be just behind Michael Schumacher. Next would be Toyota's Olivier Panis, quickest in the morning practice. He would set a time of 29.3 seconds in sector one, finishing seventh with a time of 1m:22.986, 0.628sec off the pace.

For BAR's Jacques Villeneuve he would make a small error in sector one and would be already nearly 0.7 down. He would finish thirteenth, a 1m:24.333 which was 1.9sec slower than Trulli. In the final group the first out was Sauber's Nick Heidfeld. He would set his best sector times of the day pushing his team-mate out of tenth position. Next was Jordan's Ralph Firman.

He would finish sixteenth with a time of 1m:25.223. The final three drivers would see Minardi's Jos Verstappen next up, taking seventeenth for Minardi with a time of 1m:26.52, 3.6 seconds off the pace. For Jaguar's Justin Wilson his time would be a disappointing one finishing in fifteenth. For Minardi's Nicolas Kiesa he would set a time of 1m:27.023 to finish in nineteenth.