Raikkonen rues McLaren's lack of pace

The form showed by the McLaren team was one of the big surprises of the day, with last year's race winner Raikkonen only ninth quickest and Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya failing to make the cut for the final session in 12th place.

The Finn driver, who said was blocked by Jarno Trulli during one of his qualifying runs, is hoping the race will be better.

"We are not where we want to be," said Raikkonen. "I was blocked on my first flying lap in the last qualifying session and then the next run was not a great one.

"We seem to be lacking qualifying pace, but will see what we can do in the race tomorrow to improve our positions as our race pace is better than our qualifying speed."

Montoya suffered a problem when his car was being refuelled in the second session, meaning his tyres lost temperature and he was unable to set a competitive time to make the cut.

"I'm really disappointed," he said. "There was a problem when I came in to get my car refuelled and my tyres lost a lot of heat, and we should have changed to a new set.

"However these things happen and whilst they are frustrating we must now focus on the race tomorrow and see what we can do."