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Kimi on form in Budapest

Kimi Raikkonen impressed his Finnish contingent by setting the fastest time in Friday’s second free practice with a 1MIN 20.884. In doing so, he was the only driver to lap under the 1MIN 22 bracket.

In slightly cooler conditions, the Finn completed 20 laps, having set his fastest time of the weekend thus far with just five minutes of the session remaining. Although Michael Schumacher was a strong contender throughout the session to take the top spot, the Ferrari driver could only muster a 1MIN 21.009, a mere 0.125 off Raikkonen’s pace.

Juan-Pablo Montoya improved on his performance from the inaugural session by clocking a 1MIN 21.185. The Colombian was on the pace throughout the hour, having completed 24 laps. He was marginally ahead of David Coulthard in the second McLaren, who set a time of 1MIN 21.203 - three-tenths off the pace of his team-mate.

Olivier Panis affirmed his morning form by finishing in an impressive fifth place, just under half a second slower than Raikkonen. The Frenchman completed 23 laps in the revised Toyota TF104B. Takuma Sato also improved on his performance; the Japanese driver ending the day in sixth spot with 1 MIN 21.364.

Antonio Pizzonia performed well throughout the second session and ended up with 1 MIN 21.574, which was good enough to put the Brazilian in seventh. He finished just over a tenth quicker than Jenson Button in the second BAR - the Briton completing a total of 19 laps.

Rubens Barrichello’s session ended down in ninth spot, despite heading the timesheets earlier on in the hour. The Ferrari driver improved his earlier time by two-tenths with a 1MIN 21.712. Fernando Alonso rounds off the top 10 for Renault.

Mark Webber, who failed to set a time in the morning’s session, impressed in his R5 to take 11th spot, just 1.1 seconds off the pace. The Australian finished just ahead of BAR’s Anthony Davidson and Bjorn Wirdheim in the Jaguar.

Timo Glock finished 14th in the Jordan with a 1MIN 22.697, with Fisichella 15th for Sauber. Jarno Trulli could only manage 16th in his R24 with a 1MIN 22.788. He finished a mere 0.02 ahead of Ricardo Zonta in the Toyota with Pantano a further tenth down in the Jordan.

Christian Klien, who spun out of this morning’s session, managed to put his Jaguar in 19th spot having completed 30 laps. Ryan Briscoe finished 20th in the third Toyota, with Felipe Massa next in his Sauber having clocked a 1MIN 23.188.

Nick Heidfeld was outpaced by his Jordan team-mates to put the EJ14 in 22nd place, some 2.7 seconds slower than Raikkonen. Meanwhile, Leinders, Baumgartner and Bruni bring up the rear, some five seconds off the pace.

Report by: Julie Gates

Written: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 13:03:45