Hungarian GP: Minardi Friday practice notes

Minardi Cosworth launched into the first official day of the Hungarian Grand Prix -- home race for driver, Zsolt Baumgartner -- and made steady progress during Friday's two one-hour sessions. There was a minor hiccough for the Budapest-based driver, when his car coasted into the pits 20 minutes into the morning session, the result of a sensor problem. This was rectified, however, and he was soon back on track.

By comparison, team mate, Gianmaria Bruni, had an uninterrupted opening session at the Hungaroring, although in common with Baumgartner and Minardi test driver, Bas Leinders, he found himself grappling with a strongly oversteering chassis, possibly the result of a relatively dirty track surface.

Unfortunately, the afternoon session was less successful for him, as his car spun at turn 11 on the fourth lap out of the pits, and became stuck in the gravel. The team took the opportunity of the "maximum-downforce" nature of the Hungaroring to try several new components on the Minardi Cosworth PS04B today, all of which showed promise. The team looks forward to making further progress tomorrow.

Zsolt Baumgartner:

"I'm satisfied even if we still have to find the perfect chassis set-up for tomorrow. Bas did a very good job today. He has tested new parts, which proved to be successful. It is very important that tomorrow we find the correct set-up for both the qualifying session and the race. I hope to be able to get close to the Jordans, as to reduce the gap to them is something I really like!"

"If we are able to get ahead of them here in Hungary, that would be fantastic. I was really excited to be able to drive in front of so many Hungarian fans here today, all supporting me at my home race. I hope to be able to do a really good job for them over the next few days."

Gianmaria Bruni

"It was okay at the beginning, but then we changed the car for the second session compared with how we started the morning. Unfortunately, I made a mistake at turn 11 on my first run of the afternoon and the car became stuck in the gravel, so that was the day finished. It's really a pity, but we will aim to improve tomorrow."