Minardi drivers Mark Webber and Alex Yoong qualified 21st and 22nd respectively for the Canadian Grand Prix on their first visit to the track.

"It was a pretty good qualifying session for us, and that was the maximum that we could take out of our package here," Webber commented in a press release.

"It would have been nice to get Allan (McNish), but it just wasn't on today. The guys again did a very good job and I believe we are on the right tyres for tomorrow's race. We sacrificed a little bit today by not picking the softer ones, but hopefully we'll be rewarded in tomorrow's race with a stable car."

Yoong was hampered by minor errors and technical problems. "I made a mistake on my first two runs, and on the third, the time was not great, but then I felt I could have improved a lot on the fourth," he said.

"Unfortunately, the gearbox broke at the beginning of the last run, and that ended any chance of setting a better time. Nevertheless, we are on the harder compound tyre for tomorrow, and I think we can have a good race."

Team principal Paul Stoddart added: "Despite bringing up the back of the grid for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix, the Minardi drivers put in a solid performance during this afternoon's qualifying session, where there turned out to be less than one second between P9 and P21.

"While showing how competitive Formula One is, it also demonstrates what a good job the team is doing with its resources compared with many of its rivals. Mark put in his usual solid performance, and we're confident that, but for a gearbox problem, Alex's last run would have seen him close the gap to those ahead of him."