Rosberg endures difficult qualifying

"We really expected to have both cars in the top ten today," admitted technical director Sam Michael. "Nico got caught by the rain, but it's the same conditions for everybody - we simply didn't get the job done with his car."

Rosberg set the 10th fastest time in the first qualifying session, but in the second part of qualifying he found himself 15th, with only Ferrari's Felipe Massa - who crashed out and did not set a time - behind the German.

"Qualifying was really difficult today," Rosberg admitted. "I kept coming across traffic in Q2, but if I slowed down to make some space, my tyre temperatures dropped because of the cold weather.

"The main problem was caused by the red flag (due to Massa's crash), which made the second session very busy when it re-started, and when I found some space on the track, it rained!

"It just didn't go my way this time, but I'll do my best tomorrow."

Rosberg's teammate and local hero Mark Webber had a slightly better session, qualifying in seventh position, although the Australian admitted he hoped for a slightly better result.

"It was a pretty interesting session today, the heart rate is always there with these sessions!," Webber said. "The car was really good on low fuel, but we perhaps didn't get as much out of it as we should have, carrying more weight.

"Ultimately, while our last runs were good, I would have liked to be a position or two higher on the grid.

"That said, I feel good about tomorrow, and I think seventh isn't such a bad place to start the race from - all the strategies are 'in' the cars now, and we'll see where we are tomorrow."

Technical director Michael added that the new Bridgestone tyre, which the team selected for Melbourne, "is working really well."