Speed frustrated by traffic

"That was really frustrating," admitted Speed. "In Imola we were unlucky with traffic and exactly the same thing happened today in qualifying.

"I think our pace was good but, once again we did not get the chance to show it.

"Hopefully, some time soon, I'll get a clean qualifying lap and someone else will get blocked, but this time, I had to pass Sato on my quick lap and then I got held up by a Midland in the last chicane, as he came into the pits.

"The red flag didn't really affect me. That's what this qualifying format is about this year, so hopefully, we'll get lucky one time," added Speed, who qualified in 19th position.

The American was outqualified by teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi, who made the first cut but failed to advance to the final session.

Liuzzi, 16th quickest, said there was nothing else he could have done.

"We could not really expect more than this today, as we were pretty much at our limit," said Liuzzi. "But the car performed well and I think we have a good set-up for tomorrow's race. With a few cars changing engines, we can move up a few places."