Barrichello rues qualifying traffic

The Williams driver ended up 12th on the grid after both his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa relegated him from the top 10 late on.

He said that a slow out-lap behind a number of other drivers had prevented his Bridgestone tyres from reaching their optimum operating temperature.

"In Q1, I was very happy, the car was perfect and I only needed one run and was quite comfortable to see the rest of the session out in the garage," said the Brazilian, who won at the Hungaroring in 2002.

"Then going into Q2, I had a lot of traffic on my out lap and basically because the lap was so slow, I don't think the tyre got up to operating temperature. The tyres were just not there, and the car balance was out and by the last run, the tyres had given up."

His team-mate Hulkenberg did make it into Q3 and qualified 10th. The German believed that he was capable of making it even higher up the grid though.

"Reaching Q3 was good today as everybody is very aware how closely bunched the field is behind the front few teams, but as always, it is human nature to feel that more could have been possible," Hulkenberg said.

"The Renaults and de la Rosa were strong today with just a couple of tenths between us all. Although overtaking will be challenging tomorrow, we know that the race is going to be highly competitive with the form of the cars around us."