Coulthard predicts strong race

Coulthard joined the Renault duo in opting to run the intermediate Michelin tyres as the rain eased off at Spa on Saturday afternoon. Although the rain started again on his lap, the decision paid off as he set the third quickest time behind the Renaults before dropping to fourth after Michael Schumacher put his car on the front row.

"I was a little bit worried at the start of my lap as it began to rain," he said. "However, the intermediates we chose to use shortly before my run gave us a good qualifying time, especially as this was my first lap on these tyres. The car has been set up for the race with dry weather in mind as is predicted, so we will have to wait and see tomorrow, but I feel we will have a strong race."

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was not so fortunate with the weather completing his flying run when conditions were at their worse. The Finn didn't help himself though after going to deep at the Bus Stop chicane which dropped him to 10th.

"Unfortunately it started raining heavily during my run," he said. "I made a mistake in the last chicane, which cost me some time. However, from our performance yesterday in the dry I think we should be looking OK in the race when the weather hopefully will be dry again. The overall performance of my car has been good from the start of the weekend, so I am looking forward to tomorrow even though I am starting from tenth position."