Hard tyres cause qualifying problems

With a blustery gale also causing problems by acting as a crosswind at Copse, Becketts and Stowe, drivers had a lot on their plate to set a decent laptime in the 30-minute session.

They were forced to take at least two laps to warm up their new tyres or risk spinning off. Among those caught out were Timo Glock, Adrian Zaugg, Bruno Senna, Xandi Negrao and Vitaly Petrov.

"It's very, very difficult to warm the tyres," said Nicolas Lapierre, who managed not to spin and will start 10th.

"It took at least two laps, you just couldn't push. You had to wait for the sheen of the tyres to be worn off. They obviously expected it to be hot here, and it isn't."

Glock, who will start fifth despite going off, added: "It was okay on my first run, I managed to get some heat into the tyres, but on the second, it just didn't happen.

"It makes it very difficult for us - I stood by the side of the track for 10 minutes and saw three cars spin there because of the cold weather/hard tyre combination."