Williams aims to break Monaco jinx

Frank Williams admitted: "It was mildly surprising. We didn't expect to get pole, especially at Monaco. It is nice to win here and a 19-year barren patch is a bit embarrassing for us and not hard to forget." He refused, however, to see Monte Carlo qualifying as a potential turning point in the season. "Every circuit is different," he added.

For Montoya, qualifying represented a big turn around from last year.

"I've never actually said I didn't like the circuit," the Colombian said, "but last year was a disaster from every point you can think of. The car wasn't working well, I shunted it in practice and then I shunted it again in the race. But I've got to say, so far so good. When the car is behaving well, every circuit feels good."

Montoya doesn't think his 0.4s qualifying advantage will be duplicated in the race, however.

"It's quite a lot but David Coulthard didn't have his last qualifying run [he was blocked by Felipe Massa], so it could have been down to a tenth or he could even have been in front. I've got to say that I was very lucky in that respect. But I'm confident. The tyres have been working very well so far and they seem to be consistent, so I don't anticipate problems there."