Alonso expected same result in the dry

Alonso, who was flying the team flag alone for most of qualifying after Nelson Piquet was bumped out in Q1, said that despite the difficult weather, he would not have qualified any higher had it been dry.

"I am pretty satisfied today because, even if it had been dry, I don't think that our situation would have been any easier," he said.

"Of course, the race will be tough and there are still lots of unknowns: the weather tomorrow could come and change things once again."

Piquet, meanwhile, has struggled to look comfortable all weekend, and admitted that he faces a difficult task in trying to turn things around in tomorrow's race.

"I'm disappointed with my qualifying session today," he said. "Since the start of the weekend, we haven't really been on the pace and I was expecting a difficult session. The weather this afternoon didn't help. It's a shame and I know that tomorrow we will have to fight hard in what looks certain to be another tricky race."

Pat Symonds, Renault's Executive Director of Engineering, suggested that today's battle against the elements was a taste of what lay in store tomorrow.

"It was hard work out there today for the teams and the drivers," he said.

"It was necessary to make decisions that needed to be changed rapidly because of the weather conditions. At the end of a session like that we are thankful to have no damaged cars.

"Fernando's grid position is probably as good as we would have hoped for in the dry and tomorrow's race will once again be about handling the changing weather conditions."