Vettel jubilant after strong STR showing

The 21-year-old German, who spent most of free practice at Silverstone running in the top ten, confirmed the team's pace by out-pacing championship leader Felipe Massa in the final shoot-out.

BMW's Robert Kubica didn't set a time, which meant that Vettel took a place on the fourth row.

"I qualified seventh in Indy with BMW, but to be eighth with Toro Rosso means we can be very proud of what we have achieved today," said Vettel. "We had a very good balance on the car and all weekend I've felt very comfortable even on my first race weekend at this track.

"It seems we are moving in the right direction with the new car and we have made a step forward. It's fun fighting in the top ten. We should be in good shape tomorrow, whatever the weather and we will deal with whatever comes."

Vettel's teammate Sebastien Bourdais completed a strong showing for STR by qualifying 13th having narrowly missed out on a place in a top-ten shoot-out.

The Frenchman however was disappointed not to have qualified higher.

"Thirteenth is not exactly the most satisfying result, but given how much we struggled here in practice, it's good to move up a notch and be a bit more competitive," he said. "We struggled to find the right set-up so we went for the best compromise and the result was rather encouraging."