It was a day of contrasting fortunes for Minardi drivers Mark Webber and Anthony Davidson as the Faenza squad began its preparations for this Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix in Friday free practice.

New signing, Davidson, took up where he left off in his debut Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, two weeks ago, quickly settling in and registering competitive lap times. Despite the abbreviated opening session, he enjoyed a trouble-free day, making good progress fine-tuning the handling of his PS02 and completing the important tyre evaluation runs. He ended up eighteenth.

"It has been a good session for me today, without any dramas," he commented. "We worked on the car and made some good changes. I think I found the best tyre situation for us as well. At the moment, I think it's looking alright for tomorrow."

By comparison, team mate, Webber, was on the receiving end of all the bad luck, losing time in the first session with a technical problem, and completing only four laps in the afternoon before difficulties with his car's gearshift electronics curtailed any further running.

"It has really been a tough Friday for us, as we had a problem in the first session with the front of the car, which we solved, and then, in the second session, we had gearbox difficulties," the Australian, who finished at the bottom of the time sheets in twentieth, said.

"I'm now looking forward to tomorrow in order to do some proper tyre runs and to complete our pre-qualifying technical programme. Hopefully, the weather will be dry in the morning because I had no track time today."

Paul Stoddart, Team Principal, added: "A reasonably productive day for the Minardi team saw Anthony able to show his true potential on a circuit at which he's driven before. It was also pleasing that he completed his full technical programme ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session.

"Mark, on the other hand, was not so lucky today, as in common with everyone else, he lost half of the first session to a fog delay and then mechanical gremlins cut short the second session. As a result, he effectively had only one serious timed lap.

"Overall, it was satisfying to see the Minardi entries mixing it with BARs and Saubers today, and we now look forward to tomorrow's qualifying session."