Da Matta rues mistake on flying lap

The Brazilian CART champion admitted he was to blame for losing time, which dropped him three places behind team-mate Olivier Panis.

"Not a great qualifying lap for me this afternoon," said da Matta. "I made a small mistake at Ascari and probably lost two or three tenths, which was a shame. Even so, the level of our performance today was not as high compared to yesterday's sessions and we need to figure out why. The Italian Grand Prix is a long race and quite tough, particularly in terms of reliability, but I am confident that we can reach the finish and get a good result."

Panis, who stopped this morning's second free practice session when his engine blew, added: "This weekend has been pretty difficult for me, so I am pleased with my qualifying lap today. We had some electronics problems in practice this morning, but everyone has worked well to improve the balance of the car for today's session. We are now in a good direction for the race and starting from ninth, I think we will again be in a position to fight for points tomorrow."