Albers hoping for wet race

The Midland driver could not make the first cut in today's qualifying and so finished down in 19th position, ahead of teammate Tiago Monteiro.

"I really have to give credit to the team, because in spite of our qualifying positions today, they really did a great job," said Albers, looking for his first race finish after retiring in Bahrain.

"A little rain tomorrow wouldn't hurt, because we know we have good 'wet' and 'extreme wet' tyres.

"That would be a great equaliser, from our point of view. Now we have to focus on running the best race we can, and I'm really looking forward to collecting as much data as possible to help us prepare for Australia and the rest of the season."

Monteiro was 20th quickest today. The Portuguese driver, who suffered from back problems yesterday, said he was feeling better and hoping for a race finish tomorrow.

"The good news is that my back felt much better today," he said. "Our physiotherapist did a great job with the treatment last night, and I was able to drive with a lot less pain.

"We still have little bit of work to do to fight our way further up the grid, but we knew from the start that we would be at a disadvantage on a high-downforce circuit like this, where aerodynamics play such a key role.

"There will be at least five cars behind us on the starting grid because of engine changes, and I'm looking forward to mixing it up with them for as long as I can. Hopefully, our reliability issues have been solved and we can be there at the end. After all, just finishing the race here is half the battle."