Montagny positive despite no finish

Montagny, who made his Grand Prix debut with the Japanese squad last weekend at the Nurburgring, lasted only 10 laps before his car suffered a drive shaft.

The Frenchman, however, was left encouraged by his progress during the weekend and by the pace shown during the early stages of the race.

"Obviously it is bad that we did not finish the race and stopped after 10 laps, but I made quite a good start and I could overtake Taku and the two Midlands so it is getting better," he said.

"We had a little bit of fighting after one or two laps and after that I had a little bit of space and my lap time was ok.

"I am quite happy because after three days we have finally found a good set-up for the car. We still have to work on the new tyres and gearbox because it appears that we need to focus a little bit more on the details and if we do that I think that it will get better and better.

"We have something positive to take away from this weekend and for me it was a good feeling to be in front of my teammate for a few laps."

Teammate Takuma Sato finished the race in 17th position, four laps down.