Mortara relieved to escape collisions

The Italian, who eventually finished third behind Jean-Karl Vernay and Marcus Ericsson, had to work hard to avoid collecting his rivals after being pushed from behind under braking for the first corner - and then Jules Bianchi rode over his left rear wheel into San Francisco bend.

The impacts upset the balance of his Signature Dallara, but Mortara was just thankful that he had not been forced out of the race completed.

"I was chasing Jean-Karl and Marcus away from the line, and I did Mandarin on the outside line," he said. "Valtteri [Bottas] was on the inside and I got a tow, so I could brake on the inside of Lisboa.

"I was really careful to not make any silly mistakes but they hit me twice, and I was lucky not to go into my team-mate. Then, at San Francisco, I was on the inside and again there was contact, although I don't know who it was. I was lucky to stay out."

Mortara settled into third place and shadowed Ericsson for much of the race - finding a way past the TOM's driver but being forced to give the position back after finding out he had overtaken under yellow flags.

Despite finishing third, Mortara remains optimistic about his chances for Sunday's main race.

"The plan for tomorrow is to win - it is pretty obvious," he said. "The main thing today was to arrive in one of the front positions. You need to be pretty close to the front and get a good tow to pass, so it is a bit difficult to overtake. Tomorrow we will see.

"We will try to overtake them. The guys in front of me were really quick and I was struggling a lot to keep up with them, but we will see tomorrow."