Heidfeld praises BMW's step forward

The German driver, who has so far looked like McLaren's and Ferrari's main challenger this season, equalled his best qualifying result of the year, finishing behind the McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.

Heidfeld admitted he was pleased with the result and was delighted with the team's step forward.

"I am very satisfied with that, especially as I lost time this morning with only one timed lap and then in the end I had a hydraulic problem," said Heidfeld.

"We are confident, we came hoping we would be stronger than in Monaco, like the last couple of years. I cannot tell you anything on strategy, but being P3 is nice whatever fuel I have.

"I am quite sure we made a step forward, I hope we can continue like that for the rest of the season. So far so good I would say."

Heidfeld came close to missing the cut in the second session after his best time was deleted for cutting across the chicane.

With no time left, the BMW driver completed another flying lap that moved him to third, albeit after brushing the wall at the end of the lap.

"I was confident it would not be a big problem but the steering was off line slightly and it got a bit worse in Q3," he said of the incident.