Paul di Resta admits that he couldn't have hoped for a better result in Saturday's qualifying, having landed himself in eight place on the grid.
Di Resta, who turned 25 on Saturday, is enjoying his first full weekend of racing, having given the car to reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg for Friday's practice in Australia and Malyasia.
However, things haven't gone quite according to plan for the Scot, completing Friday's morning session in 15th place after recovering from an early spin only to be hit by a fuel pressure problem that ruled him out of the second session.
It all came together for the rookie in qualifying though as he reached Q3 for the first time, out pacing team-mate Adrian Sutil to plant his VJM04 on the fourth row of the grid.
"I could not have wished for more today and it's nice to get into Q3," said a delighted di Resta after qualifying.
"After missing the whole of FP2 yesterday we knew that it was going to be difficult this morning, but we've got a small upgrade here and it certainly improved the performance today.
"Luckily I did my quickest lap in the second running in Q1, as I just struggled a little bit with balance in the others. Our race pace seems to be not too bad, so fingers crossed we can pick up some points again tomorrow as we have in the previous two grands prix."
