Montoya: Kimi is full of surprises!

Despite his qualifying problems, the Colombian is confident that his car will be strong in the race tomorrow, while BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen has suggested that top speed of the Williams could be a critical factor in the race.

"It's interesting to see Kimi up there, instead of Michael [Schumacher]," said Montoya. "Kimi is always full of surprises!"

Speaking about his own run Montoya said: "My first sector was ok but I had quite a lot of oversteer in the second and third sectors, and this wasn't ideal, as I lost about three tenths there, but I am still confident we will have a good race ahead of us. I know I have an excellent race car, we've got good power too and this is important."

Montoya's team-mate, Ralf Schumacher, suffered similar trouble on his way to fifth on the grid, but BMW boss Theissen remains optimistic.

"Neither of our drivers had an ideal lap today, and both of them have not been one hundred percent happy with the handling of the cars," said Theissen. "We will see what the grid positions four and five are worth when the time comes for the first pit-stops.

"Apart from race strategy, an important issue will be who will manage to overtake on the oval's straight. If you look at the top speeds, I would say our drivers have pretty good chances to do so."