Sutil cautious despite strong start

The German driver finished as ninth quickest in the afternoon session, the same position he had occupied in the morning with his Mercedes-powered car.

Sutil admitted he was hoping his performance was a reflection of his team's competitiveness, but conceded it was still too early to tell.

"I hope this is representative of where we are, but it is still very early on in the weekend," said Sutil. "We had a good session in the afternoon and could do some quite promising runs. I was pleased with the car, we had no real problems. The balance depended on the tyres.

"In the second session we did some race runs and struggled a lot with the softer tyre, but I think once the track rubbers in the tyres will grip better, but overall it was OK and a good position in the end. I think we can be happy with where we are right now."

Team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella echoed Sutil's thoughts after setting the 13th fastest time of the day.

"It's a bit too early to say how we can perform this weekend," he said. "The car is better under high speed but so far I am struggling with the rear locking and I'm not 100% comfortable just yet.

"We're in better shape than last year for sure though. We will see tomorrow but at least we know there is potential to improve over night."