Heidfeld 'annoyed' with qualifying result

The German admitted that his car was not at its strongest in the wet, but also felt the team's tactics had not been good enough in the drying conditions.

"I must admit I am a bit annoyed," said Heidfeld. "Dry conditions would have suited our car better, but that's not under our control. What we could have done better was the timing in Q2.

"My tyre change was two laps too early, which meant I wasn't on the track when the conditions were at their best with a set of tyres in good shape."

His team-mate Kamui Kobayashi was four places ahead, and said his main issue had been the intermediate tyres wearing too soon.

"I was very close to making it into Q3, but I could feel on my last lap the tyres were gone," said Kobayashi.

"The timing for the tyre change on my car was alright for me. Perhaps one lap later would have been ideal in terms of track conditions, but on the other hand it is good to go for safety in case of a yellow flag or anything else like this.

"In Q1, when it was wetter, I found the conditions were very good for the car and the tyres. I remained on the same set and in the end I was fifth, but obviously the result of Q2 is what counts."

Sauber's technical director James Key admitted that the team had not had the best qualifying session, but is optimistic that Sauber's cars will be more competitive if the race is dry.

"We seemed to lose some competitiveness in wet conditions compared to yesterday," Key said. "The main issue seemed to be warming up the tyres. We made some changes for qualifying, where it was crucial to hit the track and tyre conditions at the right time.

"Kamui did a reasonable job to get close to Q3, after he had some difficulties in the morning. Nick was a little less happy, and he also suffered from some traffic.

"It's unfortunate we didn't get through to Q3, but equally it's going to be a dry day tomorrow, so we should be more competitive and we will fight hard."