Lewis Hamilton surprised by qualifying pace

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was surprised to secure third place on the grid for tomorrow's Indian Grand Prix.

A split tyre strategy from Red Bull allowed the 2008 world champion and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to edge ahead of Mark Webber at the Buddh International Circuit.

The Briton told reporters: "It has been a tough weekend for us. We have been pushing as hard as we can and we really want to get a good result this weekend and strategy is going to play a huge part.

"I was a little bit surprised to be where we are, but generally bit-by-bit we have adjusted the set up and got a reasonable balance and hopefully we can push together to try and stay ahead of the rest."

World championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start from pole position.