Sato left hoping for more

The Japanese driver will start from 20th position in his Super Aguri, ahead of Spyker MF1's Tiago Monteiro and his own teammate Sakon Yamamoto.

But after a promising showing in this morning's practice session, Sato admitted he was hoping for more.

"We were quite happy with our progress during the morning's free practice session and felt prepared for qualifying this afternoon," said Sato.

"However, during qualifying, we were just not quick enough, so I am quite disappointed. We shall now just have to see what happens tomorrow and hope that we have a strong package for the race."

Yamamoto, in his first Japanese Grand Prix, had a dismal qualifying session, stalling his car after nearly spinning during the initial moments of Q1.

"After this morning's practice session and at the start of qualifying I had a really good feeling about the car," said Yamamoto. "I tried my best and pushed hard during qualifying, but unfortunately I made a mistake at the hairpin and the engine stopped.

"It is a real shame because I know that the engineers and the boys have worked extremely hard for this race, but I have a very good reason to be positive about the race tomorrow."