Rosberg 'quite lucky' to make it into Q3

But the Williams driver believes he could have even qualified ninth if it wasn't for a small mistake.

"My engineers have done a good job improving the car throughout the weekend, particularly since this morning's session, but I think we were still quite lucky to get into Q3 today," said the German.

"I nailed the lap in Q2; I couldn't have got anything more out of the car. In Q3, with more fuel on board, I had a small balance problem and made a minor mistake too, which probably cost me a tenth or two.

"I could perhaps have just beaten Coulthard if everything had worked out perfectly, but you cannot always get the best out of a lap.

"I think we have to be pleased with where we are and just try to do our best tomorrow. We seem to be pretty strong over long runs, so we should be in good shape for the race.

Japanese debutant Kazuki Nakajima, who is taking the place of Alex Wurz after the Austrian announced his retirement last week, could not progress further than round one of qualifying and will start the race in 19th place.

"It was difficult today," said Nakajima. "I don't know why, but the car felt quite different in qualifying compared to this morning's practice session and I couldn't get it completely right.

"Combined with a couple of mistakes, qualifying was disappointing. I will now go and look at my data in comparison to Nico's and see where I can improve for the race tomorrow."