Barrichello positive over fresh tyres

The Brazilian threw away the chance to fight for a top ten place in qualifying when he spun early on in Q2, which has left him 17th on the grid for the season-opener.

But despite being disappointed at the error that put him out, Barrichello thinks that the fact he has three sets of new tyres left for the race - as he did not run in Q2 or Q3 - could yet be a boost.

"We've been top ten the whole weekend," said Barrichello. "I think we would have been fighting with the Saubers, which is pretty much what I could have aimed for even though I wish that the pace was better.

"I don't think we could have aimed for anything better than a 1m25.6s, so we have got to wait and see.

"We have some small trouble with the actual performance of the car; the set-up cannot be run the same as the tests as the car is bottoming a bit too much, so we are losing a bit of performance. We have to wait and see and check that out.

"But KERS has been running fine and all the rest has been fine, so I really think that although I am a little bit disappointed I think that I have three new tyres for the race, which could be something else that could play a positive."