Saturday October 12th, 2002

Williams driver Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya were disappointed following a poor showing in qualifying ahead of tomorrow's Japanese Grand Prix.

"A disappointing qualifying, no doubt about it," admitted Montoya, who could only be sixth quickest today. "The car wasn't well balanced and I also made a couple of mistakes, especially in my last run, so I blew away my last chance to improve.

"It's a shame to start so far away on the grid. Unfortunately today I have equalled my worse qualifying position this year which I set in Australia."

Colombian Montoya, still looking for his first win of the season, finished the session more than a second behind pole setter Michael Schumacher and his Ferrari. The Ferrari driver's brother Ralf, Montoya's teammate, managed to outqualify the Colombian setting the fifth quickest time of the day.

Schumacher, however, was also disappointed with the team's performance.

"I was running quite well until McNish had his accident and I had to abort my lap and was called back into the pits, but you can't do anything about it," said Schumacher. "It is always nice to be in front of your teammate even if also this time, as many times before, the gap is very tight.

"We are not happy to see both the McLarens in front of us but I am also sure that we will be able to make their life difficult in the race."

Published at 07:33:34 GMT