Charles Pic optimistic he will qualify for the Australian Grand Prix

The Marussia driver, making his grand prix debut this weekend, finished nearly 13 seconds off the pace in the morning and over 5.5 in the afternoon.

The cut-off time is expected to be around 1m31s on Saturday if qualifying is dry.

Today's damp conditions limited Pic's running, but the Frenchman believes team-mate Timo Glock's time shows qualifying will be possible.

"I think what we saw is positive," said Pic, whose team was unable to run its 2012 car in any of the official pre-season tests.

"The time that Timo made is quite good so we have to wait for tomorrow for some dry conditions and to see, but I think it will be positive."

Despite the lack of running, Pic was positive about his first day of work, although he conceded he needed more track time in order to learn the circuit properly.

"It was a good day, no big problems on the car and the car is very reliable so that is very positive," said Pic. "On the negative points, the weather was not very good today and we got some rain so it was difficult to get some laps.

"But overall I think it was a good day and tomorrow it will be sunny and bright so we will be able to make some more laps before the qualy."

He added: "For the moment it is very difficult for me because I still don't know very well the track, and I made a few laps today but not enough to know really well yet with my driving so it important to come back tomorrow and make some more laps and fix it."