The fledgling Super Aguri team, who introduced their new car at Hockenheim last weekend, could take heart in Sato lapping 17th fastest, less than three seconds off the pace.

"It was a good day for us," said Sato. "During the first session we studied the aero mapping, which we are obviously unfamiliar with for this particular high downforce spec package we have brought to Hungary. Unfortunately this morning the track temperature was very low so we were limited in the amount we could achieve.

"However, the car ran smoothly and we had no problems. The second session was encouraging and we completed the medium to long runs we needed because we don't have a third driver to evaluate the tyres here. The car performed well, so we will see what develops for tomorrow."

Teammate Sakon Yamamoto, who made his Grand Prix racing debut last weekend in Germany, did not enjoy such a good day, finishing at the bottom of the times.

"This is the first time that I have driven at the Hungaroring so I tried to learn as much as I could about the layout during the first session," he said. "In the afternoon we concentrated on adapting the car set-up for this track and we have collected a lot of data.

"I am going to talk to my engineers now about preparations for tomorrow and to find out which parts we have to improve upon. Taku has done a very good job today, so I want to compare data with him and see where's where."