Kubica not surprised by lack of pace

Kubica will start sixth on the grid at Magny-Cours tomorrow with teammate Nick Heidfeld 11th after their team's most unconvincing performance of the season so far.

But despite the performance, Kubica does not believe the team are any slower than they have been at other races this year.

"In Canada in qualifying we were helped by the condition of the track, which helped a lot," the Pole told reporters straight after the session. "Here yesterday we were struggling and I was expecting a difficult qualifying. And it was difficult."

Kubica has been under no illusions that his F1.08 has not been the fastest car this year and sees a similar performance in France to what he has experienced at recent races - even though he won in Canada.

"We have not enough pace," he said. "We have to point out that we won (in Canada) because others made mistakes and had problems. In Canada and Monaco we were five-six tenths off (the front-runners), and here is a bit similar. We are struggling a bit more here - so maybe other teams improved and we haven't.

"Last year we were strong here, this year looks the opposite. But this is racing. We saw already yesterday that we were struggling with no grip and it looked like we couldn't fix it."