McLaren hopeful race strategy will pay off

Montoya finished in sixth position, over a second behind pole position setter Giancarlo Fisichella in the Renault.

The McLaren driver, however, is confident his team's race strategy will pay off tomorrow and will allow him to fight at the top.

"I am happy with our qualifying result today, and we will see tomorrow with the different fuel loads just how well we have done," said Montoya. "Hopefully the Michelin tyres will continue to perform, so far they have been good, but it is a very long and hot race.

"We have worked intensively on the set-up of the car and I am much happier with it. I am looking forward to a good race tomorrow where we can hopefully be challenging at the front."

Team boss Ron Dennis added: "We are very comfortable with the outcome of today's qualifying session and we look forward to our race strategy unfolding."

Montoya's teammate Kimi Raikkonen also believes McLaren will be competitive in tomorrow's race, and the Finn blamed traffic problems for finishing just seventh today.

"I had a little bit of traffic on my out lap at the end of the session which disrupted my flying lap," he said. "As a result I didn't do as well as I could have, but I am pretty happy with the result.

"The car could still be better but I think that we have a competitive strategy and we will still be strong in the race tomorrow."