Williams struggles with balancing act

Conditions in the session appeared to deteriorate for the later runners, with a heavy wind picking up across the circuit that likely accounted for the handling imbalance both drivers suffered from. Some consolation will come from the fact that Michael Schumacher was also affected, and will start fifth in his Ferrari.

"I am disappointed with this result because my car was very good and very stable this morning, and then it turned out not to be as positive in the warm-up and in qualifying," said Montoya, whose struggles with the car were apparent from on-board TV footage of him wrestling his FW25, which proved entertaining, if not fast. "I didn't seem to have found the right balance as I was experiencing plenty of oversteer in some of the corners and generally poor traction.

"The car was very difficult to drive and very snappy. Now we must consider this in some detail before tomorrow. Anyway, we knew that this track was going to be tough for us."

By contrast, Ralf Schumacher was somewhat more upbeat. "I believe we are well prepared for the race even though my qualifying result wasn't excellent, mainly due to the fact that I was struggling with the balance of my car, so as a consequence I am not too disappointed," he said.

"Ferrari have again proved to be very strong here but nevertheless Michael is starting behind me on the grid. However, today's qualifying result was quite unusual."