Ralf Welcomes Unexpected Third Place

German driver Ralf Schumacher revealed he was surprised after qualifying in third position for tomorrow's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Both Schumacher and his Colombian teammate Juan Pablo Montoya struggled to match the pace of the Ferraris during practice, but the German driver raised his game during qualifying and finished four tenths of a second behind pole setter Rubens Barrichello.

Schumacher, who outqualified Montoya for the second consecutive time, was nearly a whole second quicker than the Colombian, who had to settle for fourth position.

"I must say thanks to the team for having achieved such a good starting position. I really did not expect this," admitted the German. "We have had a very difficult weekend so far, going through ups and downs. The car was difficult to drive and I had an off in my third qualifying run.

"Throughout qualifying we tried dramatically different set up changes from the direction we were originally going and the car improved but it was just not good enough to achieve a better time in my last run. I have never made so many changes to my car than this during a qualifying session."

Montoya, on the other hand, was disappointed with his performance, the Williams driver not satisfied with his car's handling.

"Given the Ferrari superiority, especially in Budapest, second row is not too bad," said Montoya. "But I am definitely not happy with my qualifying result. I really could not find the right balance for my car. We tried various set ups options and made quite a lot of changes, but it never seemed to achieve a more positive outcome."