Kubica rues missed opportunity in Q3

The Pole, who is currently second in the world championship two points behind Ferrari's Felipe Massa, will start tenth on the grid after he failed to set a lap time in Q3.

And given that both Massa and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton failed to produce their optimum lap times in qualifying, Kubica was left to rue what might have been.

"Suddenly I felt the car pulling to one side and I nearly couldn't keep it on the track," said Kubica. "As always at Silverstone, the weather plays quite an important role, in qualifying there was some sunshine so it helped us more. We could perform pretty well I think.

"Q1 was okay, Q2 was okay also although we were planning to do two runs we qualified with one run without any problems we were just two or three tenths off McLaren so it was looking good. Unfortuantely we had this problem so it cost quite a lot of places. I think it was easy to be quite a lot in front but that is racing."

"Unfortunately we lost a good opportunity because Ferrari was struggling, also McLaren was not as strong with Hamilton, so we could be in front," he added. "But now we are in fifth row and we have to fight."

Despite heavy rain predicted for the race, Kubica remained realistic about his chances of fighting his way to the front.

"Looking at the performance and looking how tough Silverstone is for overtaking if it stays dry, there is not a lot I can do," he said. "Of course I will try to jump some places into the front but anyway the race is very long so we will see. It will not be easy for sure but if the car is performing well then that will help me to go more to the front."

And, while some of his Ferrari and McLaren rivals faltered during qualifying, Kubica is convinced that the gap between them and BMW is still growing.

"Lately the gap to the front team has increased, especially in Magny-Cours due to some parts that we have put on the car that were not working as the team was expecting," he said. "Then for here we went back to some (original) parts and it looks like the car is performing better.

"Surprisingly some teams are struggling like Ferrari, more than expected, so we have to see but I think the gap to McLaren and Ferrari, all in all, if we take the last four or five races it is bigger than the first three races."