Kovalainen sure there's more to come

"I was quite happy with the balance from the first run this morning, and we improved it all the way through the two sessions," said Kovalainen after posting the eighth quickest in the afternoon.

"I had a yellow flag on my final run, which stopped me from improving my time, but everybody had the same conditions.

"The red flag meant we weren't able to do all of our set-up changes, and there are still some improvements that we know can be made to find more pace. It has been a positive start to the weekend, I am happy with the car at this stage and I know there is more performance to come tomorrow."

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was 12th quickest after being hindered by a slight engine problem.

"I had a small problem with the engine mapping on the final run, which meant I wasn't able to get a good answer on the final set-up changes, but otherwise there was nothing unusual for me in either session," he said.

"We had to change the programme round a little bit after the red flag, but the situation was the same for the other teams as well.

"The car balance is still a little bit inconsistent, so there are areas for us to work on overnight, but I think we seem to be in our usual position in the bottom half of the top ten - and we have made a good start."