Maldonado upbeat for British Grand Prix after top-ten performance

It was the third time the rookie driver has made it into the top ten this year and the fifth he has outqualified team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Maldonado will start from seventh position, eight places ahead of the Brazilian.

"Our car is working well and we gave a good performance today," said Maldonado. "It is Williams' home race so I'm happy for the team.

"I'm quite confident and really looking forward to tomorrow as I always enjoy racing at Silverstone. The circuit with its quick corners suits our car so let's see what happens."

Barrichello said traffic during the second qualifying segment had ruined both his runs, therefore making it impossible for him to improve.

"I had traffic at the end of my first timed lap in Q2 which damaged my second timed lap as well," he said. "When a track like this is drying out you can lose everything so it's very unfortunate that happened.

"We need to see what the weather is going to do tomorrow but I think the car is a lot better than our qualifying position shows and the team have done a good job."