Jean-Eric Vergne has insisted that he was not surprised by Toro Rosso's pace as he qualified sixth for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The Frenchman finished inside the top six for the first time in his Formula 1 career, but Vergne believes that he would have finished higher on the grid had he not been forced to lift for yellow flags at a crucial time in Q3.

He told Autosport: "We have a decent car, maybe not for the podium, maybe not for Q3 every weekend, but at least we are able to do some good stuff with it as we showed today.

"When I look back at my lap in Q3 it was a bit of a shame because there were massive puddles and for the first time they showed yellow flags for debris at Turns 11 and 12 and I had to release four tenths.

"With these four tenths I would have been P4. I'm so mad at it. P4 was possible, but I'm still happy with sixth."

Vergne's teammate Daniel Kvyat also impressed as he qualified eighth, beating three F1 world champions in the process.