Barrichello aiming for top-six finish

"It was a good qualifying session for the team," said the Williams driver after winding up in ninth position, with the same time as team-mate Nico Hulkenberg.

"Ninth is a strong position to be starting from, but I could have done better than that if it weren't for a problem with brake warm-up in Q3.

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow and certainly feel we can achieve a top sixth finish as the car is looking competitive. We are quite happy with the improvements we've brought here this weekend.

"We still need to keep pushing, but this demonstrates that we can be fast," added the Brazilian.

Hulkenberg, who will start from eighth, was also delighted with his result, especially after outqualifying Barrichello.

"A positive Saturday; that wasn't a bad qualifying," he said. "No one expected me to be ahead of Rubens today because he's been quicker than me all weekend. Somehow I pulled out a good lap in Q3 and beat him by a fraction.

"We're obviously happy that we have both cars in the top ten, which was the aim. Hopefully we'll have a good race and get some points tomorrow."