Ralf Surprised by Qualifying Pace

German Ralf Schumacher said he was surprised with his qualifying performance ahead of tomorrow's Chinese Grand Prix.

The Williams driver, fully recovered from his big crash at Indianapolis in June, will start the race at the Shanghai circuit from fifth place after a strong showing in what is his return to competitive driving following his injury.

"I am positively surprised with my result because I didn't expect I would make it into fifth position," said Schumacher. "I found it quite difficult to set up the car this weekend and I am still having some difficulties in the first sector.

"I have ended up in a slightly better place than we were expecting to be, so I am quite happy. Anyway, it's good to be back on track after such a long break and especially to be in reasonable physical shape too. I feel very well and I think we are going to have a good race tomorrow."

Schumacher finished well ahead of his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya, who struggled with the handling of his Williams and ended up in a disappointing 11th place.

"I must admit I have struggled a lot to find the right set up on this track," said Montoya. "My car is still quite hard to drive and somewhat unpredictable. My qualifying lap wasn't too bad but the handling of the car was not good enough and I could not set a good time.

"Ralf managed to do a better job with his car and his starting position shows this. It's a pity I could not get it right, because it's real fun to drive on this track, even if it has a couple too many slow corners! Anyway, it's going to be a long race tomorrow and we'll see what develops."