Michael Schumacher hopes qualifying strategy will pay off in Brazilian Grand Prix

The seven-time world champion did not complete a flying lap in Q3, consigning himself to 10th place on the grid at Interlagos - four places behind his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

But, having taken a compromise set-up on his car, in case of rain on race day, he believes that he can finish comfortably inside the points, wet or dry.

"The forecast says there is a high probability for rain during the race. With this in mind, we have kept all of our options open for tomorrow and we had a strategic approach to qualifying today," Schumacher said.

"Still we need to find out why we weren't able to match our times from this morning. There will be a lot of data checking now, so that tomorrow it will be very different and we can attack for some points."

Team principal Ross Brawn said that Schumacher's opening lap form will be key to his race result, the 42-year-old German having often made up two places or more from his starting spot.

"Michael took a measured approach to Q3, in order to save a set of new tyres [for the race], and he is in a good position strategically," Brawn said.

"We know how good he has been on the first lap this year, so we're looking forward to finding out what will be possible in the race.

"Rain is still forecast for tomorrow but the same was true of today, so we are working with a measure of uncertainty."