Michael Schumacher says wet British Grand Prix will give him best chance of staying up front

The Mercedes driver continued to show his team's strong form on a wet track when he secured third place on the grid for Sunday's event.

After that, the seven-time champion reiterated he would welcome more rain on race day.

"I think we look reasonably competitive in wet conditions, either on inters or full wet," said Schumacher. "So therefore rain is welcome tomorrow.

"But it was a bit of an exciting session today, particularly Q2. I'm happy with third - good work by the boys."

Schumacher said he did not push to the limit during his final flying lap because he did not want to risk going off.

"I think it was only initially difficult to decide, but when you give it a watch and see what others are doing it was clear inter was the tyre to be on," he added. "I didn't want to make a mistake so I left a margin.

"Nevertheless to finish third was good for us. I am quite pleased for this. It's a good position to start the race from and depending on the conditions we have tomorrow maybe I am on the lucky side as it might be drier. But mixed conditions will be very much appreciated by me."

Team-mate Nico Rosberg was knocked out in Q2 and will start from 12th position.