Monteiro upbeat on Midland form

The Silverstone-based squad enjoyed their strongest Friday of the year, with third driver Giorgio Mondini finishing as fifth quickest.

Monteiro, who scored his only Formula One podium at last year's six-car race, was just two positions behind.

"It looks very good on the timesheet, doesn't it? We ran through our normal Friday programme, working calmly, without too much pressure and not worrying about the times," said Monteiro. "This time, the balance was amazing on new tyres. It felt like a different car; there was so much grip.

"I only had one lap on the new ones, as opposed to 20 laps on the old set, so obviously I haven't used them as I should, and to be honest, I think there's still more to come out of them. The whole team did a great job today and it looks encouraging for tomorrow.

"Once again, we need to keep cool, and work hard tonight to qualify well tomorrow."

Teammate Christijan Albers was less enthusiastic about his performance after posting the 21st fastest team.

"I think we had a reasonable day," said Albers. "We just had some bad luck at the end of the session with traffic and I couldn't put in a good lap, so it's difficult to say how the car is.

"But I think everything is moving in the right direction and tomorrow we should be able to improve by a lot."