Yoong Disappointed Despite Qualifying for Race

Minardi driver Alex Yoong was a disappointed man after today's qualifying despite make in onto the grid for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix.

The Malaysian driver, who was replaced in the last two races by Briton Anthony Davidson, had failed to qualify three times this season and returned to the cockpit last week for a test at Monza. After showing a promising pace in today's practice, Yoong was unable to repeat the feat and qualified last more than 1.5 seconds behind teammate Mark Webber.

"When we started out, the car had a lot of understeer," explained Yoong. "It got better toward the end, but then, unfortunately, due to red flags, I lost my last two timed laps. I was on a much better lap at that point and we could undoubtedly have improved quite a lot.

"I wanted to show I can qualify well, and I'm just disappointed that it didn't work out today, particularly after having a good first practice session."

Australian Webber finished the day only ahead of Yoong in 19th position and more than half a second behind Jordan's Takuma Sato. Webber, however, was pleased with his performance.

"It was a very good qualifying session for us," he said. "We had quite a frustrating morning today, but we looked hard at all the data and were able to sort the problem. We worked towards taking fuel out of the car and it was a lot better. Like everybody, we got stuck with the red flag at the end of the session.

"It would have been nice to have an extra run, but it's the same for everybody. Overall, it was a good job for our little team here at a circuit that is tough on the efficiency of everything and also that's a high-power track. Together, everybody has done a good job."