Williams' Sergey Sirotkin believes the team is in a much better position than testing suggested after their Australian Grand Prix practice times were comparable to Toro Rosso, Renault and Force India.
Williams struggled in pre-season testing, ostensibly adrift of the midfield pack, but in first practice Sirotkin was 12th quickest and in second practice team-mate Lance Stroll was 14th, ahead of both Toro Rossos and just a tenth off the Renault cars.
Sirotkin described the car as "very different" to what he drove in Barcelona testing and believes a Q3 spot could be up for grabs on Saturday.
"Both sessions were quite good today," said the Russian rookie. "I went through different stuff, going through normal things to understand the car and the track. It’s not easy, but it’s as expected.
"Overall, everything feels very different to Barcelona. It’s still a bit early to say, but I think we look OK. You get more confidence with every lap and every corner, especially when you try different things. There are still many new things for me to learn procedurally.
"Q3 is obviously the target, but the midfield is very close. It’s not going to be easy but if we do a perfect job we could be there. We’re improving, but altogether the picture compared to Barcelona looks very different."
Stroll, whose run was interrupted by a red flag, is confident the team have some extra pace available and can therefore take some steps forward before qualifying.
"I think it was a positive day, looking at the laptimes and everything. I think we can improve quite a bit, because we got the red flag and I went back out and did my time on a one lap tyre, so there is definitely a few tenths in that," he explained.
"If you ask me I think we are in a decent position. We don't know where the other cars are on fuel and everything, and we don't know what engine mode people are running, so that is a question mark. It seems like the car is a bit better here than in testing."
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