Rosberg eyes 'great' result from fifth

The Mercedes driver qualified in fifth position and admitted he was happy with his showing, especially as he finished ahead of a McLaren and a Ferrari.

"I'm very pleased with fifth place and it is the best possible position that we could have achieved today," said Rosberg.

"It's nice to be ahead of one of the McLaren and Ferrari cars and also Robert who has been very close to us recently.

"We're in a good position for the race tomorrow. Strategy will be crucial with the tyre graining but we are strong in that area and with a bit of luck, it would be nice to give the team a great result."

Rosberg outqualified team-mate Michael Schumacher for the 14th time this season, the seven-time champion having to settle for ninth position.

Schumacher said he was pleased with his performance and confident of a stronger race.

"I had a busy qualifying getting everything together with some changes we made but I'm quite happy with my position," he said. "There was no room for much more today. The team did a great job getting both cars into Q3 and we will be starting from the better side of the track in my opinion.

"I'm quite optimistic for tomorrow and we should score some points, especially as our set-up is focused on the race. We had a good race pace in practice yesterday and I'm looking forward to the first Korean Grand Prix."