Sato left lamenting qualifying crash

Sato lost control of his car near the end of a flying lap during the first segment of qualifying, spinning at the start of the straight and making contact with the barriers.

Although the impact happened at a relatively low speed, the damage was enough to leave Sato out of the session.

He will start the race from the bottom of the grid.

"We made good progress as a result of the overnight changes and the car came together during Free Practice this morning and I was happy with the balance," said Sato.

"During qualifying my first run was a little bit slippery, but reasonable. I was much happier during my second run with the grip and I had a good feeling until the very last corner.

"Then I was touching on the outside kerb and the car ran wide and snapped quickly away from me. It is very disappointing that I could not complete qualifying, but hopefully we will show strong pace for the race tomorrow."

Teammate Anthony Davidson had a better day, although the Briton was again unable to escape the final row of the grid.

He said: "A good day's qualifying. I was happy with the balance of the car and I have always enjoyed the track here. Today it was good to us; we chased the car ahead closely right up until the end and there was only a few of tenths between me and Sutil.

"I really think that we have seen the limit of the car today, so we should all be pretty pleased."