16-Aug: At the
Friday press conference for the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ron Dennis is
hoping for a repeat of the performance McLaren had at Monaco and said
"Obviously we were disappointed not to win in Magny-Cours but these
things happen. Here, after initially having had two practice sessions I
wouldn't say we have the strongest car, but I stress it is a little early
to say that because when the circuit rubbers in things change. But it is a
unique race and the most important thing is to be in the front two rows
and that is what we are focussed on. If you can get into the first corner,
just like Monaco, you can run this race from the front, so it requires a
different strategy and as I said the target is to get on the first two
rows of the grid."
Ron expects Ferrari's dominance could come to an end due to tyres and said
"I think when it turns it is more likely to turn because of one
particular tyre company getting an advantage. If Michelin work hard, and
they have a lot of hard work to do, and provide a superior tyre to that
that is provided to Ferrari by Bridgestone then you could see a relatively
quick change. If one particular company produces an engine which has a
dominance you could see a change. But I don't really feel it is just
because of Michael. I think there are a lot of drivers that can win in
Formula One. He is obviously very strong and maybe he is the best, but you
don't need much of a margin coming from your package to be able to take
them on and beat them, and I think we have shown it recently over the last
few years and there are strong teams, obviously we ourselves are
reasonably competent at the moment, but there are other teams that are
going to emerge and going to be strong."
Ron wasn't happy with excluding the 3 week break from next year's calendar
and hopes the FIA will put it back and said "The teams have no
involvement in the calendar. I think the calendar that's been put out is
provisional but I'm not sure. In former years, teams have advocated
strongly for a three-week break. I don't think any team has changed its
opinion and all of us have benefited from the time one way or the other. I
think it's a good thing to have that break but I haven't discussed it with
anybody, with either the teams or Bernie at this stage."
Ron hopes that the governing body take a pragmatic view on the Arrows
situation and help them stay involved in the sport and said "If the
team is in liquidation, it's automatic, the rights fall away automatically
so I think the important thing for Arrows to maintain its value is it
stays out of liquidation. If that's the case, and I know that there are
still serious efforts being sought or solutions, if that is the case, then
I think it's a question of the teams and the governing body, but more the
governing body, but I think they would look to the support of the teams,
taking a pragmatic view on some of the other regulatory aspects that
determine whether a team has to pay a fine or not. There are automatic
mechanisms but there is the power within the FIA and certainly with the
teams to waive those, and I think in this instance, most teams, I would
feel most teams would be supportive of anything that would keep another
Grand Prix team involved."
Flavio Briatore indicated that their 2003 car will be
ready to run in November and said "We have a new engine ready in November
and we try our best to have a chassis as well in November so we have not
developed the car in the last two races because the package we have this year
can go so far anyway. So we stop everything working in 2002 and try working in
2003 with the new engine and new chassis. We are in time and it looks like we
will run the new car and new engine in November."
Flavio indicated that they have yet to decide on a test driver and said
"We have not decided and we will try to make a decision at the end of the
season."
Flavio believes the 3 week break in August is good particularly for the mechanics
and said "I believe it's good for the mechanics for everybody, but what
we see in the provisional calendar for next year, it's not there any more.
Honestly we never discussed this with Bernie about this. But I believe it's
very important for the team to have this three-week break for everybody,
especially for the mechanics."
Niki Lauda indicated that they are have not taken
any decision regarding their driver line-up for next year and said "I
have not taken any decision on drivers whatsoever because our main concern
is getting the car better and as we are working constantly on it we have
not taken any decision on the drivers for next year."
Niki gave some detail of the Cosworth offer to the Jordan team and said
"Cosworth, because of the Arrows situation, made them an offer for
Cosworth engines next year, for a three year contract. Now it's up to
Eddie to decide between Honda or Cosworth. It's an engine deal between
Jordan and Cosworth, so there's no decision on any side now, if he wants
to dump his engine and go into the Cosworth engine or not. It's up to him.
He has a proposal from Cosworth for a three-year engine deal."
Niki seemed to indicated that the deal between Cosworth and Jordan would
be for customer engines and not a 'works' deal and said "We're
getting a brand new engine, Jaguar Racing, which was three days early on
the dyno so this engine is already in progress. This year's engine would
then be the engine for whoever wants to have it."
Niki also indicated that there are no signs whatsoever that Ford could
pull the plug on the Jaguar Formula 1 team and said "We keep them
constantly informed about what we are doing and there is no sign
whatsoever that we will not carry on."
Niki also confirmed that Cosworth is taking legal action against Arrows
for breach of contract and said "We have applied to all legal aspects
of it, which will be decided on Monday, but yes we have to fight for the
money because it is an existing contract and you can't ask for supply and
not pay."
Paul Stoddart praised Anthony Davidson for his
efforts in his first Friday practice in his career and said "I think
that given the fact he had not been in the car before this morning he has
done an excellent job and we will forgive him for his thousand dollar fine
for the fastest speeding record in the history of a driver I think. His
effect on the team has really been a positive one. It really has had a
good feeling, a good motivation in the team."
Regarding Justin Wilson's attempt to drive for the team here and his
prospects for driving for the team next year, Paul said "I really
feel for Justin. It was so, so marginal, but he just wouldn't have been
legal in the car. It is not a criticism of the car or the regulations, we
could have built this car bigger to accommodate him, we didn't, the car
was built maximum for Mark and we didn't foresee the need to have anything
bigger. But it doesn't take the pain away from Justin. The team worked for
two days to get him in the car, it wasn't a quick decision, but it wasn't
quick enough to be done. We would have had to build another chassis and we
didn't have enough time to do that. Yes we would build a car next year
that would most definitely accommodate a driver of Justin's physique and
he has done enough with the team to impress us and he deserves another
chance."
Ove Andersson indicated that Toyota are working
on a development car in preparation for next year and said "At the
moment we are working on a kind of a development car which is an
improvement of the existing car and we hope to run this before the break
and that should then be the basis for the next year's race car which we
hope will be ready at the beginning of January."
When asked whether he though anyone could put an end to Ferrari's
dominance, he said "We have other problems than thinking about
Ferrari at the moment. We have a long way before we have to worry about
them. Obviously, if we are in this business the ultimate target has to be
to think that one day we will be able to win."
16-Aug: What the teams and
drivers said following Friday practice at the Hungaroring ... Report
16-Aug: Hungarian GP
– 2nd Friday Practice Session: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest
time of the session ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Ralf Schumacher. Kimi
Raikkonen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Takuma Sato make the top 6 ... Timed Results ...
Report ... Notes
16-Aug: Hungarian GP
– 1st Friday Practice Session: Michael Schumacher sets the fastest
time of the session ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa. Jacques
Villeneuve, Giancarlo Fisichella and Olivier Panis make the top 6 ... Timed Results ...
Report ... Notes
Friday
Practice Session 1
Friday Practice Session 2
Saturday Practice Session 1
Saturday Practice Session 2 Qualifying Session
Warm-up Session Race
11
AM Budapest Time / 9 AM GMT
1 PM Budapest Time / 11 AM GMT
9:00 AM Budapest Time / 7:00 AM GMT
10:15 AM Budapest Time / 8:15 AM GMT 1:00 PM Budapest Time / 11:00 AM GMT 9:30 AM Budapest Time / 7:30 AM GMT 2:00 PM Budapest Time / 12 PM GMT
