Sato happy despite missing top ten

"I am pleased with the result and we are in a very good position for the race tomorrow," said Sato, who qualified his Super Aguri in 11th place, losing the spot for 10th when the clock was already at zero.

"We were expecting to have a tough weekend in Canada as our circumstances make it difficult to fully update the car as much as we would like to.

"However, we made good progress during the practice sessions and a good step forward once again, so I am pleased that the car showed good performance and that it all came together today. Hopefully we can have a strong race tomorrow."

Teammate Anthony Davidson did not enjoy such a positive day after failing to make it past the first qualifying segment, the Briton being hindered by the red flag caused by Renault's Heikki Kovalainen in the first session.

"It was a difficult Q1 after the red flag and I think it made everyone change their plans very quickly," he said. "We got one run in, but I think that a lot of the other teams got two runs in and that was always going to make it extremely tight. I think we both drove a good lap for only doing one quick run.

"I got rear graining as well on my tyres for the last half of the lap and that's where all my time disappeared to. I think that without the graining I would have easily made it through to Q2.

"I was 5/10ths up on my time from this morning and I was really happy with my times, but when I got round to Turn 10 it all fell away and I ended the lap on a 17.5 and that's a real shame."