Kubica feared fuel glitch would cost him

The Pole had taken a provisional front row spot before Lewis Hamilton's rapid last-gasp effort pushed him back to third - but Kubica said he had feared he would fall much further. Although he had been able to get back to the pits after the fuel issue, by then he had no time for another outing.

"We had a bit of a bad moment in Q3 when the car stopped running approaching the last chicane on the in-lap," he said.

"So we knew practically we would not be able to do a second attempt in Q3 and I was praying for rain, and there were some drops but not enough.

"Lewis managed to set a better lap time, but it's still good for us being back here after introducing the F-duct quite late."

Kubica added that the F-duct had functioned seamlessly from the outset on its debut in Belgium, and reckoned that was key to today's result.

"Fortunately it worked perfectly yesterday from first lap, and we are happy to be here," he said.

"With the F-duct it seems a bit easier to be more competitive. We were competitive in all sessions with different tyres, and we were somehow hoping to repeat our performance from free practice."

Having suggested before the weekend that he was more interested in seeing clear progress from Renault than in chasing race wins this year, Kubica said he was open minded about his prospects in tomorrow's grand prix.

"I think victory is out of reach but in motorsport anything can happen," he said. "We will try our best and take out maximum from this weekend."