Montoya Still Optimistic of Strong Race

Juan Pablo Montoya is still optimistic of a strong British Grand Prix despite struggling in today's qualifying session.

Colombian Montoya was seventh fastest for Williams, marking the 25th anniversary of their first Grand Prix win this weekend, while Spanish stand-in Marc Gene was 12th in his second successive race as injured Ralf Schumacher's replacement.

"Before starting my final qualifying lap, I saw Marc had a very nervous car and I was expecting the same," said Montoya. "In fact, I realised immediately that my car was also difficult to drive and I decided to be a bit careful. With such inconsistent wind conditions, it's very difficult to predict what the car is going to do.

"I am a bit disappointed with my qualifying position, of course, because prior to the qualifying session both Marc and I had done a good job and had a very good balanced car, but despite this afternoon's conclusion, I believe we've got a very good race car and we can realistically aim for a good finish."

Gene admitted he was disappointed with his lap after struggling with his car's handling.

"The pre-qualifying session was a bit unusual today, but what counts is the final qualifying result, but I didn't have a good lap at all," admitted Gene. "I was quite quick in this morning's practice and I was confident I could achieve a good grid position in qualifying.

"However, this afternoon my car was much more difficult to drive than I anticipated. I could feel it was very windy and I could barely keep the car on the track - the weather conditions had changed a lot from this morning."