Takuma Sato - 21st: "It has been a disappointing day. We completed our test here last week and did everything we could, but the car has just not been quick enough this weekend. The team has worked really hard and I believe that we have got the best performance out of the car, so from that point of view I am satisfied, but we need to improve.

"Having said that the free practice session this morning was encouraging, the long run pace was strong and so I think that we shall have a better day tomorrow and should have a strong package for the race."

Sakon Yamamoto - 22nd: "We completed a good preparation session for qualifying this morning, but unfortunately, on the second lap of my first run this afternoon, I got a puncture in my left rear tyre before Parabolica. It is disappointing as I could not go out for my second run, but still I am looking forward to tomorrow."

Aguri Suzuki, Team Principal: "Unfortunately Sakon had a puncture during qualifying, but on the positive side Taku and his engineers did a good job today. We are now only 2.5 seconds off the pace of the leaders and are becoming more competitive as we close the gap.

"Although our qualifying positions remain the same, our car is improving and we have made reasonable progress since our testing here last week."