Montoya needs more speed

Montoya got involved in a spectacular dice with BAR-Honda's Takuma Sato for seventh in the early laps of the race. He then jumped ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella and David Coulthard when the Safety Car was employed while the wreckage of Jarno Trulli's Renault was cleared. But at no point during the race did Montoya look like a contender for victory.

"Although the car is not quick enough, it worked pretty well and I believe we got the best out of it today," said Montoya. "At the start I made a mistake, releasing the clutch too quickly and it cost me a position to Sato. Then I tried to keep pushing but it was not possible to catch those in front.

"When the Safety Car came out, the team did a great job by calling me in and I had a pefect pit stop. However, back on the track the backmarkers were frustrating and I lost a lot of time.

Montoya also pointed to Bridgestone's performance advantage at Silverstone. "If our [Michelin] tyres had matched their [Bridgestone's] consistency then everyone would have two stopped."

Gene, standing in for the injured Ralf Schumacher, had another disappointing race as he tries to convince the Williams team that he should be considered for a race seat in 2005.

"I tried to be aggressive from the start and in the first part of the race I fought with [Fernando] Alonso," said Gene, "but we were running at the same pace and it was impossible to get ahead. I simply didn't have the pace to improve my track postion. However, the backmarkers hampered me a lot. Depending on the set of tyres, the car's balance varied but overall it wasn't too bad."

The team's technical director Sam Michael admits the FW26 is not fast enough at the moment: "It was an encouraging race in terms of getting some points on the board, but obviously we have a lot of work ahead of us to improve the car. Our strategy helped Juan to move up the field and the pit crew did a good job. From where Marc was in the field it was difficult to make progress and although his ultimate laptime wasn't bad, it was not quick enough to make it into the points."