Badoer not surprised to be last

The Ferrari substitute, who has struggled to get on the pace so far this weekend, qualified 20th, and was nearly three seconds slower than Jenson Button's fastest Q1 time.

But Badoer, who has been confirmed as Ferrari's replacement until Felipe Massa returns to fitness, added that he had always expected to treat the Valencia race as a test ahead of what he hoped to be stronger performances in the following races.

"I was hoping for a little bit better, but that was more or less the range," he told the BBC. "We were expecting it to be a little bit like this, because with one year's no driving and a new track, what was possible to do?

"This was the range we were expecting. For me this race, as I said in the conference, is a test.

"I just have to run, I just have to not crash the car and make mistakes. I need to run, run, run and be better on the next race."