Rosberg hindered by gearbox problem

The Williams driver put on another strong performance, making it into the top ten for the fifth time in eight races, after finishing ninth.

The young German reckons, however, that a gearbox problem in the final segment cost him a couple of positions.

"It is difficult here to get the lap right in qualifying because grip is limited," said Rosberg. "I managed to do a very good lap in Q2, one of those laps you get once in a while, but I was a bit disappointed by Q3 because something happened with the gearbox in the second to last corner and I lost a few tenths.

"If that hadn't happened, I think we would have been a couple of positions higher than I am. Expectations for tomorrow are, of course, for points and we are in a good position to score."

Teammate Alex Wurz, meanwhile, continued with his qualifying problems, the Austrian winding up 18th.

"If you ignore the fact that I went out in the first round and I'm in 18th place, I'm actually much closer to my teammate here than I've been at other races and was only a tenth away from making it into Q2," he said. "I had a clean run and made no mistakes.

"I had a bit of a balance issue in the last sector, but other guys were suffering with that as well. I'm disappointed, of course, but I have to keep a cool head going forward into the race."