Zanardi keeps feet on the ground

The 32-year-old Italian has had a miserable time on his return to F1 following his successive Champ Car triumphs and has yet to qualify in the top 10 or finish any of the six races so far this season.

Zanardi put his improvement down to timing and believes he will not occupy the same elevated position in the qualifying session for the race.

'Of course I am quite happy with the result although I would be a fool to delude myself into thinking that I could be in the same position after qualifying without some further improvement to the car,' he said.

'I believe that our performance came also thanks to the fact we ran in the best moment of the free practice session with the best track condition.

'I hope that I have found a good set-up for the car that will allow me to qualify among the first 10 tomorrow.'

Ralf Schumacher, Zanardi's team-mate at the struggling former world championship winning team, clocked the ninth best time - just over a second behind the pace set by his brother Michael in the Ferrari.