Piquet expecting to fight at the front

Piquet Jr was nearly half a second quicker than the rest of the field with his superb qualifying lap, and believes that this form is representative of what he can achieve all season.

"I'm aiming for a perfect year, and I know it's going to be very tough but I'm sure we can do very good this year," Piquet said.

"I think we're going to at the top all the time, and fighting for the top - that's what I want, that's what I'm fighting for. The whole team is doing a really good job, and that's what we expect."

The Brazilian is confident of his pace in the race, which will be held at lunchtime today.

"It was very difficult to get a clear lap in qualifying, but after I did it was fine - I just did a safe lap, and it was fine," he added. "I'll do a safe start, and then it's all going to be depending on the pace of the race, on the pitstops, and things like that. But it should be good."