Montoya Glad to Outperform McLaren Duo

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya was happy to outperform his McLaren rivals in Friday's qualifying session for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second round of the 2003 season.

Montoya, who spun off the lead in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix two weeks ago, was the fastest of the non-Ferrari drivers in today's session, finishing behind World Champion Michael Schumacher and Brazilian teammate Rubens Barrichello.

Although the Williams driver was nearly a whole second behind Schumacher he found some comfort in the fact that he managed to outpace both McLaren drivers Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard, fourth and fifth quickest today.

"I am glad as I could get in a pretty good lap," admitted Montoya. "I am quite happy with my car at the moment, in spite of some understeer we now need to address. Ferrari are still quite a bit ahead but it is some comfort for me being ahead of both McLarens.

"Now we have to decide what we are going to do for tomorrow's qualifying and consequently for the race. Malaysian hot weather doesn't bother me too much, which definitely helps when you have to drive in such extreme conditions."

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the Williams team, as German Ralf Schumacher struggled for pace in today's qualifying, setting a disappointing 13th fastest time in the second FW25.

"I am obviously not happy with my performance but to be honest I can't really understand why I am so far behind," he said. "In this morning's Free Practice the car behaved well but during the First Qualifying I had to fight with massive oversteer.

"However, I still have a chance to achieve a good grid position in tomorrow's Final Qualifying. According to the new rules I will have to be out on the track quite early, which is of course a disadvantage."