Williams blown away

Both drivers opted to slow down on their pre-qualifying laps for fear of rain during qualifying, but the tactic backfired as conditions proved more difficult at the start of the session than at the end.

"Marc [Gene, who was on track before me] reported he had a nervous car," said Montoya. "I nearly went off at Copse and was very careful after that. I was a bit disappointed with the time, because I've been a few tenths quicker than that this weekend. It would be nice to get back on the podium, and I think we've got the race car to be there."

Montoya's lap may have been difficult but it was a breeze compared to Gene's. The Spaniard recovered major twitches at Copse and Becketts and was disappointed not to be able to capitalise on his pace from this morning, when he was faster than Montoya.

"The pre-qualifying session was a bit unusual today, but what counts is the final qualifying result, but I didn't have a good lap at all," said Gene.

"I was quite quick in this morning's practice and I was confident I could achieve a good grid position in qualifying. However, this afternoon my car was much more difficult to drive than I anticipated. I could feel it was very windy and I could barely keep the car on the track - the weather conditions had changed a lot from this morning."