Rosberg positive after strong start

The German driver finished the day as seventh fastest after feeling comfortable with his car right from the start of the day.

His performance has left Rosberg encouraged for the remainder of the weekend.

"Practice was pretty good," said Rosberg. "I was encouraged by the car as soon as I went out on the track and just really enjoyed myself. It looks like some of the problems that we've been experiencing at other tracks this season just weren't there today.

"That is a very good feeling. We now have a strong platform to work from to go into qualifying tomorrow. We've obviously made progress and didn't look bad at all."

Alex Wurz, fresh from scoring a podium finish in Canada last Sunday, was unable to escape problems today, losing around half an hour after his gearbox suffered an oil leak.

The Austrian, who drove only in the afternoon while Kazuki Nakajima took to the track in the morning, wound up 16th.

"Just as I was starting to get into a rhythm and tune the car in, I had a gearbox oil leak," he said. "That lost us about half an hour so it was a real rush at the end to get some timed laps in.

"Despite the setback, we have a good idea as to the set-up we'll go for, we will just have to wait and see now how qualifying goes."