A mixed bag for Williams

"I had too much understeer in some sectors of the circuit and I think I lost two or three tenths there," said Ralf. "I was also a bit too careful braking into turns seven and eight. However, I am quite happy. I think we've achieved some further improvements with our new chassis. We have used here a new front wing and a modified rear suspension for the first time."

Juan Pablo complained yesterday of a lack of grip on new asphalt in the infield section of the track. Today he struggled with understeer and ran wide at the end of his hot lap.

"All in all it has been a pretty good qualifying," he said, "even if lost a bit of time in the last two corners due to some understeer. In the third sector I lost something like three or four tenths from my out lap to my timed lap and this is of course a bit disappointing. That's what we've got for tomorrow, but I think we are going to have a good race."

Sam Michael, Williams' chief operating engineer expressed his disappointment at not starting further up the grid, but admitted that fuel strategies might have the last say tomorrow.

Obviously we would always prefer to be a bit further up on the grid but the race tomorrow is a different story. Since the advent of the new regulations it is very difficult to evaluate everybody's qualifying performance and we are keen to see on which strategy the other teams are on.

"We have done better in today's dry qualifying than we did under wet conditions yesterday. The new aero parts and the new rear suspension have improved the performance of the car and it is our task to find further improvements as we head into the European sector of the season."