Williams gets unexpected bonus

"Yesterday we didn't expect to be where we are today, even if we looked maybe worse than how we actually were," said Ralf Schumacher, who will line up third. "The team did a great job overnight, changing my car quite a lot, which allowed us to improve sensibly. We are pretty happy with the Michelin tyres and I think they look in good shape for tomorrow. Starting from these grid positions we can aim for points and possibly for a podium."

Juan Pablo Montoya had a less straight forward session that his team-mate. He was forced to switch to the spare car after his race chassis developed a misfire. For a while he struggled to match Ralf's pace, but the Colombian pulled a hot lap out of the bag when it mattered to qualify fourth.

"If I think how qualifying started for me, I am absolutely happy with position four," he admitted. "At the beginning it did not go too well with the spare car, but on my last lap I managed to put the best possible lap together. I don't know how it worked, but it definitely did!"