Canadian GP: Honda Saturday qualifying notes

Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's Jacques Villeneuve qualified in 14th place for tomorrow^Òs grid of the Canadian Grand Prix to start the race from the seventh row while team-mate Jenson Button qualified in 17th place.

The air temperature registered a cool 15 degrees as the final qualifying session got underway on a drying Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, the rain having finally stopped. B.A.R Honda's Jacques Villeneuve was the first man out on track for his one flying lap as the drivers go out in reverse order of yesterday's times. The Canadian avoided the damp spots still present on the circuit and recorded a lap of 1m17.347s, finally qualifying in 14th place after all the runs were completed.

Button went out seventh in the running order, 20 minutes into the session. The Briton's first sector time looked competitive but he made a mistake in the final sector and missed the chicane, recording a time of 1m18.205s, finally qualifying in 17th position for tomorrow's race.

The qualifying session was stopped momentarily towards the end due to Kimi Raikkonen losing control of his McLaren. The Finn did not set a time so will have to start from the back of the grid.

The Williams pairing of Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya took the front row, followed by Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) and Renault's Fernando Alonso in third and fourth place. Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello and Jaguar's Mark Webber will start from fifth and sixth position.

Shuhei Nakamoto ^Ö Engineering Director, Honda Racing Development
"Both engines ran well today and our grid positions don't really reflect where we are this weekend. Going out later in the running order would have benefited us as the track conditions improved throughout the session. It was unfortunate that Jenson made a mistake towards the end of his run as he was quick through the first sector. We're all hoping for better results tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve
Position: 14th
"It wasn't a bad lap; there was a couple of tenths still to be had but at least there were no mistakes. Like most of the teams we only got a few laps in the dry so the set-up isn't optimised. I think we'll be stronger in the race - not as strong as we would be in a wet race but we can certainly improve on qualifying. This is always an exciting race so I'm looking forward to it."

Jenson Button
Position: 17th
"We had a very good free practice this morning with Jacques and I swapping places in the top three at one point. As the track has continued to dry though we've struggled to keep up with the Michelin runners. My qualifying lap was poor from the beginning. I had very low grip throughout and the car wasn't handling at all well, then the rears locked up in the last corner. Even without that problem it wouldn't have been a very impressive lap. It's very disappointing to be starting the race from 17th. It looks like it's going to be dry as well so from this position we have a lot of hard work to do to make the best of things tomorrow once we are able to get more heat into the tyres."