Toyota encouraged with Friday performance.

A much-changed Toyota squad arrived in Hungary, but its revamped three-man line-up gave a good account of itself as the new TF104B finally showed the fruits of Mike Gascoyne and the team's labour.

Olivier Panis wound up fifth overall, lapping just a fraction behind McLaren's David Coulthard, and the Frenchman admitted that he was encouraged by the start to the weekend.

"We have started off in a very positive way," he reported, "We had two productive sessions without any problems. I am working with a new team on my car from this weekend, but the fact that I know all the guys has been a big help. Now we need to concentrate on tomorrow in order to try to keep our current pace."

Panis' team-mates were also different this weekend, with Ricardo Zonta having been promoted to the seat usually occupied by countryman Cristiano da Matta. On his first outing in the TF104B, Zonta failed to match Panis' performance, but was confident that there was more to come as his weekend took in a second and third day for the first time.

"It was a quite comprehensive day for me, with many things to do," the Brazilian explained, "Essentially, the job of all three drivers is the same on a Friday, carrying out long runs and comparing tyres. The only difference is that as race driver, I now have two more sessions to improve the set-up, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.

"On my final run with new tyres, I unfortunately made a mistake in the last corner, so that meant my best lap time of the day was actually done on old tyres. Generally, though I felt very comfortable driving one of the race cars in practice for the first time."

With Zonta promoted to a full-time ride, his seat in the third car was taken by young Australian Ryan Briscoe, who lapped eighth fastest in the opening session, before sliding down the order after problems struck later in the day.

"Today was my first experience of being a part of the race team and I really enjoyed it," he enthused, "I am happy with the general result and with the work that we have achieved. It was quite difficult to reacquaint myself with the track in the first session, as the grip level was very low, so I just took it easy and was gradually getting more and more confident. And, although I was driving the standard TF104 chassis today, I had the 'B-spec' aero package, which is a definite improvement to the whole package.

"Unfortunately, we had a water leak at the end of my second long run, which meant that I had to finish early this afternoon. That was a little frustrating because I had not run on new tyres during the session and I was looking forward to putting in a competitive time."

Team boss Tsutomu Tomita was equally happy with the way the day had gone, and commended all three drivers - and particularly his two 'newcomers' - on their performance.

"It was not a bad opening day for us," he commented, "Olivier enjoyed two trouble-free sessions and was able to set some competitive lap times, although he is still not totally happy with the balance of the car. Similarly, Ricardo had small problems with the balance and also made a mistake on his new tyre run. Ryan did a good job on his first time driving in Friday practice, but a water leak meant that he was unable to complete his final two runs on new rubber. The changes we have made over the last two races show that we are moving forward and are in reasonable shape for the rest of the weekend."