Kevin Magnussen says he was surprised Renault got both cars through to the second session of Australian Grand Prix qualifying.
The Danish driver made it through to Q2 but was the first driver to be eliminated in F1’s new elimination-style qualifying format.
He will start the 2016 season opener in 15th place, with rookie team-mate Jolyon Palmer starting just ahead of him in 14th.
"We didn’t think we would be as strong as we were today, we hadn’t expected to get out of Q1 and actually we got both cars through," he said.
"My lap wasn’t perfect, there was more to get out of the car so that is encouraging. It was frustrating that things didn’t go our way in Q2, we had traffic which meant we didn’t get a chance to set a better time, but qualifying is the same for everyone and at some point it will work out in our favour.”
Palmer added: "It was a pretty busy qualifying, obviously as it was the first one with the new system. It really built up and we were going quicker and quicker all the time so you had to make sure you kept your head above the water and not get knocked out.
"We’re happy to be in Q2; we didn’t really expect much more. I hadn’t done many laps in the dry here so I was trying to build up to it a little bit and then on the last lap, I knew I had to give it everything. It was enough to make Q2 so happy days."
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