Maldonado pleased with practice speed

The incident cost the Venezuelan some track time, but he had earlier been fifth fastest in the morning session and took 11th in the afternoon despite the mistake.

"I think today went well," he said. "The car is looking competitive and I have a good feeling.

"There is some margin for improvement, from myself and the car, but it is looking positive for us tomorrow."

He blamed high tyre wear for his pit entry incident.

"The spin happened because I had little rubber left on my tyres, so I was slipping around a lot as I was making my way into the pitlane," Maldonado explained.

"I spun and ended up in the gravel. Fortunately, even with the damage, the mechanics managed to turn the repairs around quickly and send me back out for the last part of the session, so I thank them for that."

His team-mate Rubens Barrichello was less content after taking eighth and 12th places in the two sessions.

"We still have some issues on my set-up which we need to improve before tomorrow," said the Brazilian. "Right now, I'm not fully happy with the balance, but we completed the long runs fine."