Theissen: BMW hindered by rule changes

The German car manufacturer have had to modify their rear wing and remove their 'Twin Tower' nose wing in recent races following requests from the FIA - and have subsequently lost some pace.

Theissen believes the fact that neither Nick Heidfeld nor Jacques Villeneuve made it past the second session of qualifying prove that the team have suffered.

"Qualifying confirmed the impression we got after today's free practice: we are not fast enough here," explained Theissen. "Obviously the restrictions on our aerodynamics have penalised us and dropped us back, but we will continue on our development work in this area.

"But first of all we will focus on the race. We now have the opportunity to adapt the race strategy and decide what fuel loads we will start with."

Villeneuve admitted that his 14th best time was particularly hard to take because it felt like a good lap.

"We knew we would not be that quick, but this was disappointing as that was a mistake free lap," he said. "The balance of the car was good, the set-up of the car was good but I just could not go any faster. We improved the car a lot overnight. However, we still definitely need to work on the engine and the chassis."

Heidfeld added: "I was hoping for a bit more from today, but I didn't expect us to make it into the top ten.

"Currently we are just not fast enough, and at the same time the Bridgestone tyres have become stronger. My car had slight oversteer, but in general it was okay. I discovered the tyres work better on their second lap and that is why I didn't drive on the limit on my first flying lap."