Montoya admits qualifying better than expected.

Juan Pablo Montoya has admitted that ninth in qualifying was a better outcome than he has expected, after he struggled with a lack of grip for most of the Nurburgring weekend.

On Friday, McLaren couldn't get its tyres to work properly because, in effect, the car was too gentle on them and/or they were not soft enough. Set-up changes and the track getting more rubber down improved the situation, allowing Kimi Raikkonen to take fifth place, more than half a second up on Montoya, although the team acknowledges that a chunk of that was down to the drivers' different engine specs.

"It was better than expected," the Colombian confirmed, "We took a very conservative strategy, and it was the right thing to do. At the first corner here, you probably want to be a little further up so you're not in the middle of trouble, but that's where we are, and we've just go to make the most of it, stay out of trouble and score good points.

"For me, it was getting the car to where I could at least drive it, it wasn't fine-tuning, to be honest. We changed so much over the weekend. We're a little bit lost, but we're getting there."

Montoya also admitted that, so far, the team has failed to fulfil its potential on race weekends.

"Kimi has a new engine and everything but, even with that, we can't really show what the car can do," he said, "It's sad, because we just keep saying every week that we can't really see what the car can do. Then we go testing and the car feels brilliant. I think there's a lot of potential there, but we just haven't been able to exploit it.

"Here, it was general lack of grip and I wasn't really comfortable with the car. We made it a little bit more comfortable but, when we put new tyres on in qualifying, it just went to understeer. In a way it's good though, because we should have a very good car for tomorrow."

Montoya remains optimistic of a good result on Sunday, despite his qualifying performance.

"It's been a tough weekend - I've struggled a lot with the car, but I have to say everybody here has worked their arse off to bring us forward," he said, "Yes, we're ninth but, last race, we were seventh, and we still finished third. I think we're in a pretty good state. We've just got to wait and see what comes out of it.

"If I can get a top five, or even a podium, it will be really good. I think, with the strategy we've got, it should help us."