Karthikeyan Rues Driving Errors

The Jordan driver ran wide at the first corner and then messed up again at the corner in front of the Mercedes-Benz grandstand as he tried to regain the lost time.

Eventually, having messed up his lap so much, he opted to dive into the pits and will start from 20 th on the grid.

"I made a mistake in the first corner and then I was trying to gain the time back," said Karthikeyan. "I was pushing harder but I made another mistake and we decided that I should go straight to the pits to save our tyres. It is a pity because the car felt ok.

"I was pretty satisfied with the balance of the car and I am sure we have made the right choice of Bridgestone tyres for the race tomorrow.  I will now do my best to have a good race on Sunday."

Karthikeyan's teammate Tiago Monteiro had a less incident-filled lap but was not so happy with the handing of his car as he qualified 18th - which resulted in the team being outclassed by main rivals Minardi.

"My run went okay," said the Portuguese, who got distracted slightly after catching up with Minardi's Christijan Albers. "I had a relatively clean lap. I have had a few problems finding a good balance with my car during the weekend so we will have to find out some solutions for tomorrow's Grand Prix.

"The race will be long here in Hockenheim and some rain is expected, so it could be exciting and maybe bring us some luck."