Williams team praise Ralf's fightback

The German driver came under intense criticism from sections of the German press after admitting he has yet to get to grips with the new-for-2003 one-lap qualifying system on Saturday.

"Ralf really did the best he could," said BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen. "The accident at the start mixed up the field and Ralf took advantage of the situation and managed to reach the midfield. You don't often see a driver achieving fourth place having started 17th!"

Schumacher was justifiably pleased with his afternoon's work: "The race was as demanding as 56 laps of qualifying! Driving at the front as I did last year was obviously much easier. The new rules are proving positive. They mix up the field so much that a lot goes on in the race."

For Montoya the race was over almost before it had begun. "I was hit by Antonio Pizzonia's Jaguar," said the Colombian, "and I lost most of the rear wing which forced me to pit. Unfortunately we had a technical problem that slowed down the wing change but the mechanics did the best they could. When I went back to the track I was three laps behind the leader. Such a gap was impossible to close!"