Force India expects stronger race pace

Having lost mileage to a hydraulic problem which ruled him out of all of morning practice, Adrian Sutil had to settle for 11th on the grid - but that was seven places ahead of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi, who failed to get out of Q1.

Though Sutil admitted that the lack of practice time had been costly, he remained optimistic.

"This morning I couldn't do any running because of a hydraulic problem on the car and as we had some problems yesterday as well, I didn't really know what to expect out there in qualifying as I hadn't done so many laps before," said Sutil.

"All the same we had a good balance on the car and I was quite happy with the final lap time. We were very close to Q3 again, just under a tenth, so I think it's all open for tomorrow.

"Eleventh on the grid, and the good side as well, I think we can be very confident. It will be a tough race with the heat but I think we have a good chance to score some points again."

Liuzzi also believes he will be faster in race trim, having struggled to get the maximum from the tyres in qualifying spec.

"We didn't get the most from qualifying today and should have been in a better position," he said.

"We have been struggling with the grip since the start of the weekend and had a pretty similar issue to Barcelona. We don't seem to have the right balance or get the tyres to work, particularly at the rear of the car.

"We are trying a couple of things and once it is sorted we will be competitive for sure, so it's not worth dwelling on today. The new switchable rear wing has been a big step forward so we can be pretty confident about the race.

"So although it's disappointing for now, tomorrow we should be able to move up the field and do as much as we can."