Villeneuve 'Reasonably Happy' with Ninth

The former World Champion secured ninth place on the grid to edge out teammate Felipe Massa by two places - but he was kicking himself that he has lost out on the chance to out-jump David Coulthard at the start.

"It was a pretty good session," said Villeneuve. "I had hoped to be up behind David Coulthard because we make good starts, and it's a pity to lose a place to Michael, but the car was neutral in its behaviour so I'm reasonably happy.

"We always run stronger in the race than in qualifying and we have a good strategy, so let's see what happens."

Massa, whose weekend got off to a bad start with a crash in Thursday practice, was fully focused on an aggressive performance this afternoon.

"The track improved a lot during the session, and when I was out it was still very slippery," said the Brazilian. "Like yesterday, it would have been easy to make a mistake but I had a good lap.

"I'm just going to go for it this afternoon, but I know it will be tough. Above all here, in this situation, the most important thing is to be there at the finish."