Webber Welcomes Weather Help

As a result of their opening lap collision in Brazil, Webber and teammate Antonio Pizzonia had to qualify when the track was damp early on - and were then forced to watch several of their rivals making the most of the then drying conditions.

But their afternoons were saved when a downpour hit the final runners - leaving Webber seventh on the grid and Pizzonia 12th.

Webber said: "We ran on full wet tyres all morning due to the aqua-planing and since we switched to intermediate tyres for qualifying, the balance of the car was quite different and very difficult to drive to the limit.

"It was frustrating not to have a better car especially in the second sector which was very hard work. Anyway, the weather helped us at the end."

Pizzonia, who has never raced at Suzuka before, added: "Track conditions were pretty different from this morning when we were running on full wet tyres when it was raining a lot.

"For qualifying we chose to go for intermediate tyres as the rain had stopped and I spun on my out lap because I was pushing hard in order to learn about the grip level.

"I was quite happy with the balance of the car this morning but we changed some things for qualifying and it didn't help too much. The car was very difficult to drive and unfortunately it didn't go my way today.

"This doesn't take anything away from the fact that I like this track, no matter if dry or wet, even if I am driving here for the first time. At the moment the weather forecast for tomorrow is for dry weather, so we'll see what happens."