Ferrari suggested they have cured their problems from Hockenheim as Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen finished one-two at the end of first practice for Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Raikkonen, in particular, underperformed at the German Grand Prix 12 days ago, finishing a lowly sixth - his starting position on the grid. An intense investigation followed, with Ferrari finding no fault with the car, and saying instead that their drivers were unable to extract the maximum from the Bridgestone tyres.

Judging by the opening 90 minutes of free practice, Ferrari have improved and will represent a significant threat to Lewis Hamilton's bid for three successive victories.

The McLaren driver has dominated the past two races in Britain and Germany to open up a four-point gap over Massa and seven to Raikkonen. But the 23-year-old was forced to settle for the fourth-quickest time of the morning, with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen also faster than him.

Massa led in a time of 1min 20.981sec for the tight, twisty Hungaroring track, leaving Raikkonen trailing by 0.364sec. Kovalainen and Hamilton, who won this race a year ago, followed close behind, with the latter 0.554secs down on Massa.

Fernando Alonso in his Renault was the best of the rest, while Toyota's Timo Glock proved he is over his horrific smash in Hockenheim with the sixth-fastest time. Robert Kubica, of BMW Sauber, and Nick Heidfeld were more than a second down in seventh and ninth. Renault's Nelson Piquet, in eighth, and Jarno Trull, of Toyota, completed the top ten.

David Coulthard was 12th in his Red Bull, 1.719sec off Massa's pace, while Honda's Jenson Button was a further 0.2sec adrift in 14th. Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel brought up the rear, completing ony four laps due to an engine problem sustained 49 minutes into the session.