Williams blame form on tight midfield

Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg both failed to make it out of Q2 and will line up in 12th and 15th positions at Barcelona.

But technical director Sam Michael said that the team's positions are simply evidence of how close the battle is now in the middle of the pack.

"It is so tight," he explained. "Kazuki missed out on the top ten by a tenth, and Nico had oversteer on his lap at Turn 9 onto the back straight and lost time, otherwise he was on a similar lap time to Kaz.

"But that is how tight it is, and unfortunately we are on the bottom end of it today. Our long run pace wasn't bad on Friday, so hopefully we can race well."

Although the tyres used at the Spanish Grand Prix are the same as at Malaysia, where Williams struggled earlier this year, Michael insists that there was no repeat of the problems they suffered at Sepang.

"This track is very different to Malaysia in terms of the energy you put into it. I think it has actually got more competitive, and the gaps are closer.

"Renault have made a couple of tenths more than anybody else, and the gap to them is not massive, a couple of tenths, but that makes a big difference in terms of the grid."

Michael believes that Williams could still finish in the points in the race.

"Well I think we can have a good race if we have good starts off the line, it is what we target to do every time. And then the target is to get some points."