Williams Duo Confident of Strong Weekend

Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya is confident his Williams team will be on the pace this weekend despite a slow start in Friday's first qualifying session.

Montoya, the winner of the German Grand Prix three weeks ago, is the man on form after finishing on the podium in the last six races, having scored 50 points out of a possible 60. The Williams driver, however, could only finish in eighth position in today's session.

"I didn't put together the best lap, really," admitted the Colombian, who is six points behind Championship leader Michael Schumacher. "My first sector wasn't good enough as I braked a bit too early into the first corner of the chicane. The balance of my car wasn't as good as I expected, especially at the start of the lap.

"In this morning's free practice I was seven tenths quicker than in qualifying. The track was very dirty when I went out but it improved during qualifying as it got cleaner and cleaner. However, I believe our package should be pretty competitive here. We've got the pace."

Teammate Ralf Schumacher is also confident the BMW-powered squad will be able to continue with their dominant form after setting the second fastest time of the day behind Renault's Jarno Trulli.

"I am fairly happy with my qualifying lap," he said. "This morning I had some problems with the set up and we made quite a few changes on the car which seem to have been in the right direction. The track is slippery as it has always been here, especially if you come off the line.

"For sure you don't want to be the first car to go out on track. The new track is nice, even if in a way I preferred the old corner because I thought it was a bit more technically demanding, but with respect to sorting out the bumps, they did a really good job. We should be strong here."