Liuzzi rues missing out on top ten

The Toro Rosso driver said traffic had cost him a better time before the end of the second session, and with rain hitting the final part the Italian was unable to improve.

Liuzzi will start from 13th place.

"I have to say I'm satisfied with how this session went, even if we didn't make it through to the final shoot-out," said Liuzzi. "We were really so close, but the rain came at just the wrong time and stopped us from setting a time and before that I had trouble with traffic.

"If we had left the garage one minute before, who knows? But its clear we had the potential to be in the top ten. The car was much better today, so it will be an interesting race tomorrow as overtaking is difficult here."

Teammate Scott Speed will start from 19th position after failing to make the first cut. The American went off during one of his flying laps and he completed his final run too late.

"I had a good start to the session even if as expected it was tough to warm up the tyres," he said. "The second run was better still until I lost the car in Turn 14. We're not sure exactly what caused that, maybe it was down to the tyre pressures we were running.

"Up to that point, I was on a lap that would have easily been good enough for thirteenth or fourteenth place. My final lap was also good enough for fourteenth but I did it crossing the red light. All the same, I think we have a good race car for tomorrow."