Sutil mystified by lack of speed

"I think this is probably one of our worst qualifying performances so far this year," said Sutil, 19th today, after finishing nearly a second behind his closest rival

"We don't really know where the problem is, but it just seemed the grip was not there and the balance wasn't right. It might be an issue with the tyres as we just can't bring them to a real peak.

"We just have to try our best and find the problems. The race tomorrow will be tough but I am happy with the pace of our long runs so I think we are stronger under race conditions."

Teammate Giancarlo Fisichella had an even worse day after a heavy crash during this morning's practice session.

The Italian managed to jump onto the track with just five minutes of Q1 remaining, only to crash again after suffering a puncture.

He did not set a time.

"Unfortunately today wasn't my day," said the Italian. "I had an accident over the kerbs in turn 10 in practice - the kerbs in that corner are very dangerous as I launched over them and went into the barriers.

"The mechanics did a fantastic, fantastic job to get the car repaired and out for qualifying in the last five minutes.

"Unfortunately then I had a puncture and then another crash as the steering wasn't right because of the puncture. I'm really disappointed, not for myself as I think it would have been a tough qualifying anyway, but for the team as they worked so hard. We will look to have a better day tomorrow."