Pizzonia Confident of Strong Race

Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia was pleased after outqualifying his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya ahead of tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix.

"I am fairly pleased with my qualifying lap, even if I didn't have much luck because it started to rain a little bit when I was in the last sector and this slowed me down a bit, especially going through the last two corners," said Pizzonia, who posted the sixth quickest time, his best qualifying performance to date.

"My car felt better in the final qualifying than in pre-qualifying and also the track conditions improved from one session to the other," he added. "Anyway, I know I have a better race car than a qualifying car so I am confident."

Pizzonia, standing in for the injured Ralf Schumacher, finished 0.024 seconds ahead of Montoya, who claimed problems with the balance of his Williams had slowed him down.

"I put in a fairly good lap without mistakes but the balance of my car prevented me from setting a quicker time," said the Colombian. "We sacrificed a little of qualifying performance for the race pace. For the first time I will be starting from the clean side of the track, which is also important here.

"Still, starting from seventh position on a circuit where overtaking is very difficult, is not ideal. The only chance I see to pass the car in front is at turn one really, and that's it. Nevertheless, we should have a good race. It's nice to see Antonio doing well. He has been quick all weekend and he did a good job."