Barrichello positive after promising start

"The team did a great job working to improve the car over the day so I am happy with that," said the Honda driver after setting the seventh quickest time of the afternoon session.

"The balance of the car is not yet where I want it to be, however looking at the degradation of the tyres and seeing how we performed this afternoon, we can be positive and work towards a better day tomorrow," the Brazilian, whose team are still looking for their first points of the season, added.

Teammate Jenson Button was also happy with the day's work, especially with the amount of laps completed during both sessions. 

The Briton was 13th fastest after 33 laps in the afternoon.

"We completed all of the work that we planned for today, with both Rubens and I covering a lot of laps which gives us valuable data to work with overnight," he said.

"It has been a reasonable start to the weekend and although we have some work to do to improve our long-run pace, overall it was a good day."