Jean Alesi's first act as a Jordan driver may have been an attempt to steer his car into the Prost garage at the end of his first run in the EJ11, but, despite the early gaff and a first session spin, the veteran Frenchman came through his first outing in fine style as he began his preparations for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

"I finished very well in the session," said Alesi of his eventual sixth place, behind Eddie Irvine and fourth placed Ralf Schumacher.

"Tomorrow (Saturday) will probably be a lot easier for me. To be honest, it was like this the first time I drove in Formula One. It's difficult when you drive a difficult car but when you have good support and a good car, it's a lot easier."

The reality is that for Alesi to have propelled himself to sixth from the mid-teen position he had occupied for most of the afternoon session, Jordan almost certainly sent the Frenchman out on new tyres and with the merest sniff of fuel. But regardless of the methodology, the new Jordan recruit was brimming with enthusiasm for the task ahead.

"Obviously, I'm too excited because straight away this morning I went off!" he laughed. "I was enjoying too much my first laps in the car. I think the main problem was getting the car stopped in the correct place, because I went to the end of the pits this morning. At the moment I'm just doing what the team tells me to do, as they know best what changes can be made to sort out any problems I may have.

"I will drive the spare car tomorrow, which has some new parts and aerodynamic revisions but overall I feel motivated and happy. The biggest thing is getting the opportunity to analyse the car and I need a little bit more time." Alesi won't get the time, however. The crunch comes this afternoon, the one-hour time trial of qualifying and on a circuit which has been likened by Eddie Irvine to Monaco without the barriers, grid position will be all important.

It is likely that the Frenchman will be eclipsed by team-mate Jarno Trulli, who yesterday finished 12th as he ploughed through the bulk of Jordan's preparatory work. "It was a routine Friday and everything went well," said the Italian, who despite rumours to the contrary is now not expected to this weekend announce whether he will stay at Jordan for 2002 or move to Benetton.

Jordan's competitiveness and Alesi's progress are likely to become mere sideshows this afternoon, however, as the battle for the sharp end of the grid hots up and the paddock looks on to see whether Michael Schumacher can strike a telling blow in his bid to wrap up the championship on Sunday by planting his Ferrari on pole.

If the German takes his third career win at the Hungaroring tomorrow, he will move into an unassailable 41 point lead in the championship (if closest title rival David Coulthard finishes second). Indeed, if Coulthard fails to finish tomorrow's race, Schumacher need only cross the line in fourth to wrap up his fourth drivers' championship title.

If he manages it, it will be a considerable achievement. In taking the win, he will equal Alain Prost's all-time record of 51 grand prix wins. He will find himself level with the Frenchman and just one behind Juan Manuel Fangio in the league of championship winners. It will be the quickest championship win since Nigel Mansell wrapped up the 1992 title, coincidentally, at the Hungaroring. With four races left in the season after tomorrow, Schumacher could open up the biggest ever winning margin over Coulthard and also top his own (2000) and Mansell's (1992) record of nine wins in a season.

Yesterday, Schumacher, struck the first blow, finishing the day at the top of the timesheet, ahead of team-mate Rubens Barrichello and McLaren's Mika Hakkinen.

"If you look at the times, we are looking quite good," he said of the tenth of a second he had over Hakkinen and the six tenths advantage to the Williams of his brother Ralf. "We know we are in a strong position and we should be competitive in terms of our package. We are still working on the perfect solution but we are pretty close to that point."

Few would argue with the German's icy analysis of his superiority. While his rivals struggled and spun around him - Coulthard wrecked the chassis of his car and lost the whole afternoon session - Schumacher calmly rattled off 38 trouble free laps.

Couple that with the Hungaroring's negligible overtaking opportunities and a pole-winning Michael Schumacher would appear to be unbeatable in the race.

Perhaps, now, the only thing standing in Michael Schumacher's way is mechanical failure. But then when you pick out the statistic showing that Schumacher has suffered just four mechanically induced retirements in 29 races, maybe there is nothing standing in his way after all.