By Greig Murray
August 16 2002

Ferrari dominated the opening free practice session in Hungary. Michael Schumacher set the fastest lap ahead of Rubens Barrichello but the gap to 3rd place is over 1 second as Ferrari and Bridgestone are on a hot pace from the off.

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Finally after a long three week break Formula One got underway again this morning in Hungary. Drops of rain were in the air as the opening free practice session got underway. But Ferrari were in no real hurry to put in any significant laps early in the session as they preferred to sit and watch as the other drivers cleaned the track up a little for them.

It was nearly 30 minutes before we seen a fast lap by a Ferrari and it was Michael Schumacher to do so. The world champion moved straight to the front on his first lap with a lap of 1 minute 18.838 seconds. Schumacher continues to lap and already he is looking very smooth but not totally finding the car perfect. However he makes a massive improvement as he laps in 1.17.554 which is still a long way of the qualifying time for last season.

Rubens Barrichello is soon to take to the track and he too is quick from the off as he goes second behind Schumacher with his opening laps. 1.17.618 for Barrichello as he starts to get to grips with the circuit.

10 minutes to go in the session and both Ferrari’s are out on track once more. Michael Schumacher is in a good run of laps and is improving his lap times despite still fighting with the car at a few turns, Schumacher getting very sideways at some moments but the lap time drops to a 1.17.201. Barrichello has a slight mistake but recovers in his next lap to move into the front with a lap of 1.17.122. Rubens looks very comfortable with his F2002 and hopefully his back problems will not be appearing again this weekend. Barrichello continues to lap very much on the same pace showing but no improvement yet from the Brazilian.

As the session comes to a close Schumacher moves back to the front with a lap of 1.16.923 as finally Massa puts his Sauber in the gravel trap but also third after being close to doing so on many occasions. Not much off track action, which is surprising for a Friday in Hungary! As the session comes to an end Michael shaves some more time of his time as he goes round in 1.16.755. Ferrari have dominated the opening session and are already looking very strong for this weekend!

Full Times

1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'16"755 186.437 Km/h
2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'17"122 + 0'00"367
3. MASSA Sauber Petronas 1'18"388 + 0'01"633
4. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1'18"388 + 0'01"633
5. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1'18"452 + 0'01"697
6. PANIS BAR Honda 1'18"861 + 0'02"106
7. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1'19"041 + 0'02"286
8. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1'19"051 + 0'02"296
9. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'19"125 + 0'02"370
10. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'19"193 + 0'02"438
11. BUTTON Renault 1'19"247 + 0'02"492
12. SATO Jordan Honda 1'19"322 + 0'02"567
13. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth 1'19"390 + 0'02"635
14. TRULLI Renault 1'19"663 + 0'02"908
15. MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'19"813 + 0'03"058
16. SALO Toyota 1'19"884 + 0'03"129
17. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth 1'20"112 + 0'03"357
18. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech 1'21"027 + 0'04"272
19. MCNISH Toyota 1'21"027 + 0'04"272
20. DAVIDSON Minardi Asiatech 1'21"948 + 0'05"193

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