Difficult going for Ralf in Qualifying

After Saturday's qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix we have Ralf way down in seventeenth while Juan Pablo is in eighth, some eight tenths in front of Ralf. Many are starting to question his ability to cope with the demands of the one lap qualifying format introduced this year.

Even Ralf indicates this with his comments made after Saturday qualifying. He said: "I'm still not happy with the balance of my car and in addition to this, I made a couple of mistakes in two corners where I lost some time. Anyway I shouldn't be eight tenths away from my team-mate. It's clear that I have to get used to this new qualifying system."

With cars that are essentially the same apart from minor setup differences but still running the same strategy there has been a considerable difference in the time set by the two drivers. Even in Australia Ralf could only qualify ninth while Montoya was third, using the one lap format.

Juan Pablo commented to Reuters on his team-mates poor performance he would say: "Before qualifying I was within a tenth of Ralf, in the warm-up within a tenth of Ralf and then in qualifying I was eight tenths up on him. It's been the same way in the last four qualifying's, I don't understand why but I don't mind. I think it's brilliant for me but I think it's bad for the team that one car is so far back."

He added: "Yesterday I thought 'he's not that focused', he copied all the set-up from my car to his and he was competitive this morning. I think our cars were very similar in qualifying, in every aspect...only little things."

Juan Pablo pointed out that this trend is not something new as even in 2002 Ralf was consistently faster, 15 to two, on his first lap of the old four-lap qualifying. Yet Juan Pablo set seven poles to Ralf's none.

"It's really strange. He's got the pace every lap. It's just not the lap that counts. I don't understand what's going on through his mind or anything," said Montoya.

Frank Williams added that he felt that Ralf might be feeling the pressure of the new qualifying format. Williams said: "Maybe the pressure is difficult for him. But he's been in very tough situations, he can handle it. It's just it's not working for him at the moment."