Montoya Worried about Trulli

Trulli has been very fast in qualifying recently, having clinched pole position for the United States Grand Prix and second place in France last weekend.

The Italian's race pace, however, has not been that impressive, and at Magny-Cours he spoiled Michael Schumacher's chances of a better result after the Ferrari driver was unable to overtake Trulli for second place despite running a lot faster.

Montoya, who is looking to bounce back from a disappointing race in France, reckons qualifying ahead of Trulli will be crucial for a good result on Sunday.

"I think if we can get a top five we will be looking really strong for the race," said Montoya, third quickest in today's practice. "I think in last few races it has been close to happening. We look stronger than Renault and that is good.

"It depends on qualifying. If Trulli gets ahead of you, your race is over, you are behind a traffic jam and that is not ideal for racing."

His teammate Kimi Raikkonen, one of the main favourites for victory this weekend, was fourth quickest as McLaren showed a very strong pace, with Pedro de la Rosa topping the times in both sessions.

"It looks okay," the Finn said. "The car was not perfect, I was not very happy with it but the laptime seems to be okay so we just need to sort the car out tomorrow. We have a strong team and we will just wait and see what happens tomorrow.

"It is only the first day and we don't know what the others are doing, but it looks like we are in good shape. The car didn't feel so nice today, but it is a good start. It is going well, it is a good start for the weekend."