Daniel Kvyat struggled to contain his delight as he outpaced three world champions to line up eighth on the grid for his debut grand prix in Melbourne.

The 19-year-old Russian finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen as he thrived in the wet conditions at Albert Park on Saturday, but Kvyat said that he didn't feel nervous ahead of his first Formula 1 qualifying session.

He told Autosport: "It's a good feeling. It was a good qualifying. I was pushing very hard but didn't feel any big pressure.

"It was quite extreme for me. I had to find all the references immediately. Here is a particularly tricky track because of the white lines everywhere. It was making the car very tricky.

"Three or four weeks ago, if you'd said we'd be P8 and P6 we'd be very very happy. It's a small surprise for us but a very positive one. But we knew we could be competitive in the wet."

Kvyat was hired by Toro Rosso to replace Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified second on his first outing for Red Bull.