Romain Grosjean has said that Lotus's strategy in the first part of qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix paid off as the Frenchman grabbed third on the grid.

The team decided to gamble on using medium tyres in the Q1, which left him with two sets of super-soft tyres when it came to final pole position shootout as he finished behind Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg.

ESPN quotes Grosjean as saying: "We knew that after the final practice session we might get a little bit caught by the night coming on and at the start of Q1 we were not quite as quick as we were expecting.

"The team did a good decision about the strategy and the cut off and everything so then we had two attempts in Q3 and it's good to be at the front on the grid at this Grand Prix."

Grosjean's teammate Kimi Raikkonen could only qualify 13th as he complained of back pain, but has insisted that he will take part in Sunday's race.