Nico will start from seventh on the grid in the first of this year's European Formula One races. The fifth qualifying session of the 2012 season was dictated by tyre strategy.

"That was a tricky Qualifying session this afternoon, and seventh position was about the most that we could have achieved," explained Nico. "It was a challenge to find the right set-up for the tyres and some of the others did that better than we did today. However, with a good strategy tomorrow, we can hopefully gain some places. This has been a mixed-up season so far and it's interesting to see that there are some new guys on the front row tomorrow."