Pantano tests new rules

Pantano had gearbox problems with his race car, and thus opted not to take his qualifying first run as the team attempted to resolve it. This pinpointed a hitherto unexplored area of the rules, for the Italian received no penalty for not making a qualifying attempt other than the fact that he had to go out first for the second runs. However, he saved three laps of engine mileage and also avoided the risk of spinning off on the first run and not being able to do his second...

When he did finally emerge it was in the T-car driven by Timo Glock on Friday. By using a different engine - despite the fact that his own was healthy - he left himself open for the penalty.

"I had to drop from the race car to the T car and it was not the same as my race car," said the Italian. "Also the track was different from this morning and it was a very difficult lap. The rear was very slippery and we need to see if there is anything we can do. In the race we will be relying on our strategy to compete and honestly I think we will come up a little bit from my starting position."

Meanwhile Nick Heidfeld qualified 15th, beating only the Minardis, his team mate and the to drivers who spun off. He was more than 2.8s slower than the similarly engined Jaguar of Mark Webber.

"I'm quite happy with my qualifying laps although I had a little oversteer at the second last corner during the first qualifying," he said. "Second qualifying was better and we improved the car significantly through the weekend. We now have to work hard to improve the car to move forward up the grid. Tomorrow we need to focus on finishing the race."

Despite the problems Jordan engineering chief James Robinson remains optimistic: "Nick did a good solid run and we'll see how we go and where other people are in the race tomorrow in terms of actual speed and race pace. It will be hot and heavy going tomorrow and we are confident our Bridgestone tyres will deliver results."