Hungarian GP: Minardi Friday notes

DAVIDSON OPENS HIS FORMULA ONE ACCOUNT

KL Minardi Asiatech drivers Mark Webber and Anthony Davidson today kicked off their preparations for this Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix in positive fashion. Both men worked through the full technical programmes specified for today, including the normal tyre comparison runs.

The team's new signing, Davidson, who makes his Formula One debut for KL Minardi Asiatech at the Hungaroring this weekend, covered the greatest number of laps of any competitor in the course of Friday's two one-hour sessions, despite suffering a gearbox problem at the end of the morning. This was rectified during the lunch break, and the 23-year-old Briton was able to carry on climbing the steep Formula One learning curve during the afternoon. Davidson and Webber both reported making good progress fine-tuning the handling of their cars for Saturday's all-important qualifying session.

ANTHONY DAVIDSON

"I'm really happy that I managed to keep the car on the track today and did the most number of laps. I'm still learning the circuit, along with everything else, and I don't yet feel totally at home in the car, so there is definitely lots more to come. Anyway, I'm glad to have the first day of my first Formula One weekend under my belt without any dramas."

MARK WEBBER

"It has been a pretty good day. We got through our normal programme for Friday, and compared the tyres, which is not a hard decision this weekend: it looks like the soft tyre is definitely the way to go. We had our race fuel load in, as normal, and are looking forward to qualifying tomorrow, which should be quite exciting for us."

PAUL STODDART, Team Principal

"It has been an excellent day at the office. Both KL Minardi Asiatech drivers ran their quota of laps and completed their technical programmes for the day. We're pleased to welcome Anthony to the team for the next two races, and are particularly proud of the job he did today. It is all the more commendable when one considers he had not driven the car before this morning's first practice session."

"It also has to be said he was lucky that the one technical problem he had occurred at the end of the first session rather than at the beginning of the second. This provided the mechanics with sufficient time to sort the matter and get Anthony back on track to complete his running. While on a different programme today to Anthony, Mark put in his usual solid performance, snapping at the heels of the manufacturer-backed teams. We now look forward to a solid performance from both drivers in qualifying tomorrow."

THE ASIATECH VIEW

The Asiatech engines displayed their customary reliability, helping both KL Minardi Asiatech drivers, in particular, Anthony Davidson, to rack up an impressive number of laps in today's practice sessions.

ANTHONY DAVIDSON
Position: 19th
Fastest lap: 1 min 19.490 secs
Chassis: PS02/03 (No 22)

MARK WEBBER
Position: 20th
Fastest lap: 1 min 19.526 secs
Chassis: PS02/04 (No 23)

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