Mixed emotions for Montoya

The Colombian had only completed five laps when his BMW engine blew on the Hangar Straight. But after an engine switch between sessions, he powered his way into the top four, albeit 2.3secs slower than the pacesetting Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello.

"It went pretty well, especially after the start we had this morning with an engine failure," he said. "Then we worked on the wet tyres and the set-up. We normally seem to struggle in the wet, but today was quite encouraging. We've done a lot of work and I'm pretty happy about it."

BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen said his team would look into what caused Montoya's engine to expire, although Juan Pablo's decision to try and coax the car back to the pits worked against investigating the problem.

"As the engine continued running for quite a while after the problem appeared, we will not be able to find out the reason for the failure here at the track," he said. "The engine is going to be taken to Munich today to be examined."