Petrov happy to outqualify Kubica

The Russian rookie was the only driver yet to outqualify his team-mate this season, but he put an end to that on Saturday after his strongest qualifying performance yet.

Petrov will start from seventh position, right ahead of his Polish team-mate.

"We knew when we arrived here that our car would be quick here," Petrov told the BBC. "We worked hard. We improved, we brought some new parts here. A good result and everything is cool I think.

"When you drive around the track you are never thinking about beating your team-mate. You just focus on your job, you just focus on your laptime.

"Of course it is better to be in front but anyway you always just focus on good results."

The Renault driver was also pleased to be starting from the clean side of the road, with the start likely to be crucial tomorrow.

"Tomorrow will be a very difficult start. The first corner is quite dangerous here," he said.

"I hope it will be without accidents but I am starting with the good line [clean side] so we will have to do a good start and get in front of everybody in the first corner!"