Schumacher unhappy with Q3 showing

"Clearly I am disappointed after today's qualifying as I couldn't get my lap together in Q3," said Schumacher after qualifying in 10th position, fives places behind Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

"After the second session which was pretty good, I wasn't able to maximise my performance and I am obviously unhappy about my grid position.

"I made a small mistake on my first quick lap so I slowed down to give the tyres the possibility to work again for the second fast lap. But there wasn't much more to come and so I pushed harder and therefore made some mistakes.

"Now I will have to work hard for the race tomorrow which will be difficult from where I am starting as overtaking here is not really possible. I have to do a good start and see how far I can get. I will certainly try to make the most out of it," added the German.

Rosberg, on the other hand, was delighted with his effort, the German hopeful of a strong race on Sunday.

"I'm really pleased with fifth place today and it shows good progress after being so far back in Valencia at the last race," he said. "This is a positive step and important for us to know that we really understood what the problems were and how efficiently we have been able to turn the situation around.

"Everyone at the factory has worked really hard and this gives us a great chance for the race tomorrow at one of our home circuits.

"My lap was good today and it's nice to be fighting back up there towards the front again. I'm looking forward to the race and if I get a good start, then we have every reason to expect a strong result."