Q & A with Jarno Trulli

But the Italian was delighted with his own performance on home ground, as he almost squeezed his off the pace car into the top ten. Afterwards he told journalists, including AUTOSPORT, about how qualifying had gone.

Q. How good was your lap - it sounds like it was very strong even though the timesheets don't show it?

Jarno Trulli: Unfortunately that's true. I'm really pleased with what I have achieved in qualifying. If I had got into Q3 we would have been a mile off because we were really off the pace. This is a high-speed circuit, a top speed circuit, and we were struggling. The car was reasonable, I was able to put in a very strong quick lap but not enough to get into Q3.

Q. So you are comfortable with your own performance?

JT: I'm really happy with my own performance. If you look back at what everyone else with the same car or same engine have done. I can't say more than that.

Q. Over the years, you and Giancarlo Fisichella have moved teams, swapped around. Now he's in a Ferrari. How do you feel about the fact that he got into Ferrari and you haven't in your career?

JT: I don't think I'm going to have a chance to drive for Ferrari. He had a good opportunity to go there and I was actually contracted to Toyota. I am very happy to be at this team, I get on with everybody and have a very good relationship. There was no reason to want to switch to Ferrari because I still have some targets with this team. Obviously, he was in a different situation and was able to do what he has done.

I am happy for him. It was a bit funny because I heard some people saying wouldn't it be nice to have Jarno Trulli in Ferrari as well and have two Italian drivers. I say listen, until yesterday, everybody was complaining that there are no Italian drivers at Ferrari. Now you have at least one so let's be happy and enjoy it.

Q. What do you think about the raised kerbs?

JT: It's more or less a good compromise. It avoids the cutting, the rules are more clear than before and somehow you cannot jump the kerbs. You have to go around them and make the corner. The only downside is if you spin or have an accident and you hit the kerbs, you might damage the car.

Q. Will the run to Turn 1 be dangerous with the KERS cars?

JT: As usual the run to Turn 1 here is one of the worse. Most of the KERS cars are ahead of us.

Q. Would a wet race give you a better chance of points?

JT: Maybe. It could be an opportunity, yes.

Q. When you have a car that's not the quickest, the standard trick is to do a one-stopper. As so many of the quicker drivers are doing it, is there anything you can do strategically?

JT: We don't have tyre degradation problems. Some cars were light in Q3, so there are a few on two stops.

Q. Is top speed the Toyota's biggest weakness?

JT: If you look at the results, the only thing we can say is that it looks like the teams with the Toyota engines have been struggling. That's a fact. We really have to look into it.