Rosberg rules out fighting for pole

The German led team-mate Kazuki Nakajima for a Williams one-two yesterday, ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso. But despite being pleased with the improvements to the Williams FW31, Rosberg believes that getting into the top eight is a more realistic target.

"Definitely not," said Rosberg when asked whether he would be able to take pole position. "You should ignore the positions on Friday. It was just because we're running less fuel than some others. It's the way we approach the weekend to prepare for the race.

"Before this race, were were around ninth or 10th place, so maybe the fifth or sixth best team. It's really tight and I hope that we can move up slightly to be back in the points.

"We put some new aerodynamic parts on the car and they were working well, but it's clear that it's going to be tight in qualifying."

Rosberg admitted that, despite its pace, he found the Williams tricky to drive during Friday practice. However, he attributed this more to the track conditions than the car.

"The car is feeling very difficult to drive, but I'm not the only one," said Rosberg. "A lot of people were struggling a bit and making mistakes. It was quite challenging."