Kubica welcomes unexpected pace

The Pole could only manage eighth place after a collision with Kamui Kobayashi at Turn 3 broke his front wing.

Renault decided against changing the wing because the battle in the midfield was so tight, but that restricted Kubica's chances of making progress.

"The pace has been good this weekend and that's a nice surprise," said Kubica. "After the pitstop the car felt quite competitive in spite of the damage.

"I actually made a good start and was fighting with [Felipe] Massa through Turn 1 but unfortunately the car snapped sideways when I got on the power.

"Then in Turn 3 I touched Kobayashi which damaged the front wing and cost me some places.

"I was struggling with quite a lot of understeer because of the damage, but the field was so tight that we didn't have time to change it without losing a position."

Team-mate Vitaly Petrov finished down in 11th.