Strong qualifier Buemi wants dry race

Toro Rosso's Swiss rookie made it into the the top ten shoot-out for the third time this season as he kept his head through the red-flagged Q2 session.

"Of course I am happy, as sixth is my best ever qualifying result," he said. "It was a difficult session and I just stayed in the car, trying to remain focused. Our goal for tomorrow is to score some points. But with this kind of weather anything can happen.

"I would prefer it to be dry tomorrow, but so far this weekend, we have been quick whatever the track conditions, so I will be fighting my hardest if it's wet or dry."

Jaime Alguersuari also enjoyed a good day in the sister STR4, equalling his best starting position of the season.

"That was not bad and I'm happy with the result," he said afterwards. There was a lot of water and it was easy to crash, so my priority was to stay on the track, making no mistakes.

"Visibility was very bad in these conditions, so I hope we have better conditions for the race. I think I did the best I could today. To make it through to Q3 would have required using the Intermediate tyre, but we gambled on sticking on the Extreme and the final result is pretty good anyway."