Kovalainen expected strong Ferraris

The Finn was quickest of all in the wet/dry Saturday morning session, despite a spin, but simply could not reproduce that form in qualifying.

Kovalainen will line up fourth on the grid, alongside teammate Lewis Hamilton, and four tenths off pole position.

"They have been strong all this year so why not?" Kovalainen told UK broadcaster ITV when asked if was shocked by Ferrari's qualifying pace. "They certainly haven't lost any of their performance here this weekend. Surely they are very good and performing very well.

"We just couldn't get any more out of the car and the tyres today, especially the softer tyre and I just felt I couldn't get more out of it. I don't know exactly why but I need to try and find out the reasons and try again tomorrow."

Speaking of his crash in the morning session, which was stopped to clear away his McLaren after he clipped a barrier on the exit of the swimming pool, he said it was easy incident to shrug off: "It was not difficult at all, it was just a very small mistake and to be honest I just clipped the wall.

"I thought I would have survived that but the wheel just gave up," he added.