Rosberg expects disrupted race

Qualifying at Sepang was wet throughout, with a particularly heavy downpour forcing a 20 minute stoppage in the final segment.

"It is really difficult, even today in Q3 it was just much too much water," said Rosberg, "so we have to wait and see tomorrow. I expect a really difficult race in general with red flags.

"I am quite confident I can make it through to the end and get a good result - if it's dry, okay, and if it's wet we should be good."

Although Rosberg qualified on the front row, he was 1.3 seconds down on Mark Webber, the only man to use intermediates rather than wet tyres in Q3. However Rosberg was completely satisfied with his tyre choice.

"I felt good and felt I had a good lap in, then the tyres started to degrade," he said.

"I saw Mark in front on inters and was pretty sure I was right on tyres, but thankfully it wasn't the wrong decision to be on full wets either."