Verstappen in top ten for Arrows

'I made a bad mistake on my quick lap,' the Spaniard admitted. 'I nearly lost the car so it wasn't a very good lap.

'The car is fine, it was just a matter of getting a clear lap at the end but I didn't manage to do that. I don't do feel particularly proud of my qualifying position and am angry and annoyed as everything was going well until the last lap, which is when it really mattered.'

Unsurprisingly Verstappen was feeling more positive, having produced the best qualifying performance for the Arrows team since Mika Salo's sixth on the grid at the A1-Ring in 1998. He felt he could have qualified higher had he not then spun off the road on his final lap.

'The car was very good on both laps,' he said. 'I'm very pleased with my position and the mechanics have worked very hard so hopefully it will pay off tomorrow. Rain or dry will be fine.'

Team boss Tom Walkinshaw was happy but pointed out that had he managed to complete his final lap and improved by as little as 0.1s, the Dutchman would have been on for a top six grid slot.

"Obviously I am pleased with Jos's performance but it also shows what a difference a tenth would have made,' he said.

't is a shame he went off at the end, but at least he did it trying. edro just didn't get it all together, so the race for him will be difficult. He will most likely be more disappointed than anyone, especially as he went so well in last week's test.'