Bad luck ruins Montagny qualifying debut.

Franck Montagny experienced a baptism of fire in his first ever Formula One qualifying session, when various problems prevented him from setting a meaningful time.

Having caused a few ripples in the Super Aguri garage when he outpaced team mate Takuma Sato in the morning session, Montagny was looking to repeat that feat in qualifying but when he was pulled into the weighing bridge, a problem with the starter caused his tyres to cool down when he was stationary for five minutes, leading him to spin at the first corner.

Once resolved though, Montagny was one of the drivers hit by the red flag issue, aborting his best lap and as a result ending the session some 11 seconds behind Sato.

Nonetheless, the Frenchman was pleased to have gotten through his qualifying debut without any major problems. "During the practice session this morning we found quite a good set-up for the car and continued with it in the afternoon, making only a small modification. But we encountered many problems during the Qualifying session.

"Firstly, when I had to stop at the FIA weight scales, there was a problem with the starter so during this time my tyres were out of the blankets and were getting cold. When I re-started and put on new tyres five minutes later, the red flag situation came up, so I could not make a lap time. It is a little disappointing as this was my first Qualifying with the team, but there were no major problems with the car and I am looking forward to the race tomorrow."

Takuma Sato meanwhile came under fire from Christian Klien for blocking the Austrian on his quickest lap, with Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner claiming that the Japanese driver 'blatantly blocked' him.