Ralf Admits to Costly Driving Error

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher said he was to blame for going off the track during his flying lap in first qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.

Schumacher, gearing up for his and his brother Michael's 100th start together, failed to set a time after spinning his Williams backwards into the gravel trap between the Goesser and Niki Lauda corners.

The session was halted briefly to remove the stranded car and the error meant that Austrian resident Ralf will be first on track in Saturday's decisive session.

"During my qualifying lap the car oversteered going into turn three. I could not control it and I spun off the track," explained Schumacher. "There is nothing else to say as it was a driver error. My first sector time wasn't too bad but this is irrelevant.

"Although I am disappointed and today's timesheet doesn't clearly show it, I hope we can position ourselves between Ferrari and McLaren. It should be an exciting weekend."

Schumacher's spin forced his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya to abort his run and return to the pits while the track was cleared. The Colombian was back out minutes later to post the sixth fastest time.

"I had to abort my first run due to a red flag, but in spite of this, it seems like we have managed to get on top of the car and have figured it out a bit here â€" we have re-discovered our feeling with the car, which is positive," said Montoya. "The last few races it has been really hard for us but this session makes me think that things could go much better here.

"My qualifying lap was quite good even if had a bit too much understeer, but overall the car was easy to drive and I am pretty pleased with it."