Minardi drivers Mark Webber and Alex Yoong tried their hardest during qualifying for tomorrow's British Grand Prix, but received scant reward for their efforts.

Webber recorded the 20th fastest time around the demanding, high-speed Northamptonshire circuit, while Yoong was denied a spot on the grid for the race when his best lap of the afternoon session fell just 0.2 seconds short of the 107 per cent qualifying threshold.

The team, however, stated that they were encouraged by the fact Webber qualified his PS02 ahead of one of the revised Jaguars R3s and less than half a second behind the other.

"For us, this has been a positive day," affirmed Webber in a press release. "The guys did a really good job with the car and made absolutely the right decisions with the tyres and set-up.

"I really enjoyed today's qualifying session, and that second run in particular I felt was very good. I'm sorry for Alex, though - to have missed out by such a small margin today is tough, but I'm sure he'll bounce back for the next race."

"I gave it my best shot today, but unfortunately, it wasn't good enough," sad a disappointed Yoong. "I'm obviously extremely disappointed to have missed making the grid for tomorrow's race, particularly by such a small margin.

"Silverstone is a tough circuit, and with my relative lack of experience racing or testing here, it would have helped a lot if there had been the opportunity to run in the dry yesterday.

"There wasn't, however, and the car was also suffering from some rear instability under braking today, which didn't help matters. The biggest problem, though, was that we lost a lot of time in the quick corners, a factor that was due, at least in part, I believe, to the lack of power steering on the cars this weekend."

Team principal Paul Stoddart added: "Overall, this has been a disappointing qualifying session for the Minardi team. Mark put in another solid performance and will line up 20th on the grid for tomorrow's race. Unfortunately, despite a valiant effort, Alex's lack of experience of the tough Silverstone circuit meant he missed the 107 per cent qualifying threshold, albeit by the slimmest of margins.

"I am totally confident that if he had been able to run in dry conditions during yesterday's practice sessions, he would easily have made the field today. Unfortunately, though, it was not to be, and now all we can do is focus on our preparations for tomorrow's British Grand Prix."