Sato delighted after 'fantastic' effort

The interim version of the team's new car, which will be upgraded further in future races, helped Sato edge out Midland's Tiago Monteiro on its debut.

"This was an absolutely fantastic team effort and it feels great," said Sato. "I know how hard it has been to bring the new car here on such a tight schedule and overnight the boys worked so hard.

"We had a few minor problems, which is usual with a new car, but I think the SA06 is performing very well. We have split the Midland car times straight away in our first proper qualifying, which is a stunning job from everybody in the team.

"I think that, considering this is just our first step in the SA06, potentially this car could be very good."

Teammate Sakon Yamamoto had to make do with the old SA05 in qualifying after crashing the new car in Saturday morning's free practice session. He the slowest of the drivers who set a lap.

"This morning we were practicing for the qualifying session and we had a good car set-up, so during my first run I was able to set really good lap times," said Yamamoto, who is making his F1 debut this weekend.

"We then tried a new set of tyres and set-up and I wanted to know where the limit of the car was, so I used 100% of the car's performance, but unfortunately I left the track.

"I am so sorry that the team now has to work on my SA06 for tomorrow, but I am very much looking forward to my first race."