Barrichello, starting from pole, held onto the lead and narrowly exiting the pits after both his stops in front of his team mate, who pushed him all the way, was able to claim his second win of the year.

Ralf Scumacher drove a solid race to snatch the final podium position, finishing ahead of the McLaren pair of Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard, clever pitstop strategy helping them gain points from their poor starting slots.

The other Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya suffered underside damage when fighting with the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen early on for seventh place. The Colombian slid off the track on the fast turn three, resulting in an unscheduled stop for repairs and leaving him with a poorly handling car that he brought home down in 11th place.

Giancarlo Fisichella, after running as high as fourth early on, was outsmarted by the McLaren's long second stints and claimed the final point in sixth place.

New boy Anthony Davidson, ran steadily in last place, cautiously giving way to the faster cars, before spinning off with 19 laps remaining.

After being announced as a two race replacement for the "rested" Alex Yoong in the second Minardi-Asiatech, BAR Honda test driver Anthony Davidson arrived at the Hungaroring this weekend with no experience of the track or the Minardi PS02.

During the practice sessions and qualifying he set competitive times, winding up last on the grid, 1/2 a second behind his more experienced team mate Mark Webber.

The race saw him but in a solid performance at the rear of the field before spinning off with 15 laps remaining. Davidson was somewhat thrown off by the speed at which the front runners caught and passed him. Race leader Rubens Barrichello put a lap on him on lap 23, and when the main pack bore down on him he became over cautious, pulling over to early and having to rejoin before they passed him. Davidson: " When I saw Jenson Button and the pack coming up behind me I panicked and pulled over way to early, then I had to rejoin the race before letting them through."

Everyone at Minardi was delighted with a performance that ended at turn 9 when he lost the Minardi's back end, nearly recovering the car, before he spun into the gravel. "It was a steep learing curve", Davidson added, "I wish I could turn back the clock and do it all again. It went by so quickly."

The 23-year-old rookie likened his first Grand Prix, "to driving along the motorway in a Fiat Panda and being chased by a load of Ferraris." He now heads to Belgium with the Minardi team to take part at the legendary Spa track.

Barrichello's first run was ruined by a spinning Jenson Button, but a fast second run time gave him the jump on Schumacher who had set the early qualifying pace and the new world champion was not there after able to match Barrichello's times. His second ragged run saw him lock his brakes while his third run saw him hundredths off his team mate. This was his last attempt as he ran out of time for a final run.

Behind the Ferrari's lined up Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya in the Williams-BMWs, Ralf doing well to end up less than half a second behind his brother after the team had struggled in the free practice sessions.

Giancarlo Fisichella gave Jordan their best qualifying slot of the year next up in fifth, just ahead of Jarno Trulli's Renault. McLaren suffered their worst qualifying performance of the year on a track which was expected to suit them, Coulthard bettering his team mate Raikkonen as the Silver Arrows cars sat back down in 10th and 11th.

With the Arrows teams skipping the race due to financial pressures, Mark Webber lined his Minardi up in 18th place, half a second ahead of new team mate Anthony Davidson. BAR test driver Davidson, deputising for the "rested" Alex Yoong in the second car, set respectable times throughout the meeting and easily qualified the Minardi within the 107% rule.