Montoya Surprised by Front Row Slot

The Colombian had to go out early in qualifying as a result of his retirement in the Belgian Grand Prix, and had feared that the dirty track would prevent him getting near the front of the grid.

But thanks to Kimi Raikkonen's error at the first corner and Jenson Button's top-line speed get hindered by gusts of wind, Montoya was able to cling on to second place on the grid behind Fernando Alonso.

"I really thought the laptimes was going to improve a lot more," said Montoya. "I was expecting Kimi to do an 11.7 or something because myself, out of the last corner, even though I did pole for sector three I lost two tenths to my practice time.

"I went through the corner okay, put the power in and just did not have the traction. It was not good enough, but P2 I am quite happy with. It is very easy to make a mistake here, like you saw with Kimi, and it is when you are trying so hard you make a little mistake and it can cost you half a second."

Montoya said that he never harboured any dreams of actually being able to take pole position - even though he was eventually only beaten by Alonso.

"I was expecting to be probably P4, to be honest, Kimi, Fernando, Button and myself, but I don't mind."