McLaren Duo Upbeat on Chances

Third driver Alexander Wurz was quickest in both sessions as McLaren made the most of the use of the extra car.

And with Montoya setting the second best time in the second session, having limited his running earlier in the day because of the dusty track conditions, the Colombian is quietly confident.

"I didn't do an awful lot of running in the first session as the track was rather dusty but we were able to set quite good lap times, I think," said Montoya. "However today is not really about laptimes but about finding a strong balance and set-up, and I believe we are going in the right direction.

"We still have some improvements to make particularly as the balance of the car is still not 100% but our Michelin tyres seem to be working well, and we have a pretty clear indication of our tyre choice already."

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who is in desperate need of a victory this weekend to try and keep his slim title hopes alive, believed there was still room for improvement after setting the fifth and sixth fastest times in the two sessions.

"We still have some work to do to find the perfect set-up, but I'm confident that we will improve further during tomorrow's two practice sessions," he said. "Everybody in the team wants to leave Brazil with important points, and we are working hard to achieve this."