Fisichella welcomes fourth row slot

"I feel I achieved our current maximum today," admitted the Italian, who is looking to score points for the third race in succession.

"It is so tight to get into the top ten for us at the moment and in fact, I was tenth in Q2 by just a few hundredths of a second. After that, we made the most of the opportunity to qualify seventh, ahead of our direct competitors. That is the best start for our weekend.

"After working hard in practice, I think we have found a consistent balance for the race, and I am looking forward to scoring more points tomorrow. That was not the target at the start of the season, but we need to the best with what we have at the moment.

"It is important to finish the races, achieve our potential and keep on scoring points. I did that in Melbourne and Sepang, and want to do the same again tomorrow."

Fisichella outqualified his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, who endured a disappointing session and failed to make it past the second part of qualifying.

Kovalainen will start from 12th position, and the Finn claimed he had done the maximum possible.

"From my point of view, there was nothing more I could get out of the car today," he said. "I did my maximum, and I was right on the limit all the way round the lap, but we didn't make it into the top ten. I have felt a little bit off Giancarlo all weekend, and we saw that in qualifying too.

"Of course I am disappointed, but we know we are in a very tight battle at the moment, and we had another reminder of that today. It will be another tough race tomorrow, but as always, I will be trying to race to the limit, to be aggressive at the start - and to try and score points."