Kobayashi 'very confident' for European GP despite missing top ten

The Sauber driver will start from 14th position after struggling with tyre warm-up issues during the grid-deciding session.

Despite the problems, the Japanese is bullish about his chances of scoring tomorrow, as he is adamant his car is a lot better in race trim.

"It is quite tricky. Generally our car improved and, again, I am very confident for the race," said Kobayashi. "We have shown we are much better in race conditions.

"Again I had warm-up issues with the tyres, and once I find some grip the front tyres overheat. For the future we will try to find a solution for this, but for tomorrow I will be aiming for points as in the previous races."

Sergio Perez admitted he expected to be quicker thanks to the higher temperatures, but the rookie had to settle for a disappointing 16th position.

"Because the track temperatures were going up I expected to be a few tenths quicker, but it turned out not to be that easy," he said.

"We did more laps in order to get the tyres to work, but this also has disadvantages. However, I think tomorrow it will be possible to get some points and this is my target."