Montoya Stays Positive Despite Poor Result

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was left disappointed after his Williams team's tyre choice proved a handicap during today's qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

"Bad luck for me in today's qualifying," said Montoya, who will start tomorrow's race from 11th position after finishing over three seconds off the pace.

"The track was starting to dry out and we decided to use intermediate tyres, like Trulli, Alonso and Coulthard who went out just before me. However, already on my out lap it started to rain quite hard, which made it very difficult to keep the car on the track and as a result I lost a lot of time.

"There was no grip at all. It's a shame because in the morning we looked quite competitive in the wet and in pre-qualifying I was the second fastest driver on Michelin tyres."

Montoya, however, remained positive ahead of the race.

"I think we have a very good race car for tomorrow, we have found a good compromise which will hopefully pay off, he said.

Williams endured a poor day, with Antonio Pizzonia, who crashed during this morning's practice session, winding up 14th.

"My qualifying was disappointing, for sure," the Brazilian said. "The lack of running this morning didn't help, and I even crashed in the last few minutes. The team did a really good job in putting the car back together in time so that I was able to qualify in my race car.

"Obviously I'm disappointed, but I'm hoping to have a good race tomorrow. It is possible to overtake here, as it's such a long circuit, so we will see what happens."