Fisichella says start cost him point

The Italian finished in ninth place, less than two seconds behind Sebastien Bourdais' Toro Rosso, but was nonetheless delighted to have out-performed the far more fancied BMW Sauber and Toyota squads over the entirety of the weekend.

"Ninth position is a great result for the team," said the veteran Italian. "The pace was very good and consistent and I felt I was driving well, taking care of the tyres and putting in some fast laps at the same time.

"I just lost a position at the start and perhaps it was this that cost me the point in the end, but we have to be happy about today."

Team boss Vijay Mallya was delighted with the pace shown by both Fisichella and Adrian Sutil - who finished a lapped 14th after incorrectly choosing to start on the super-soft tyres - all weekend.

He described the performance of the weekend, during which both drivers made it into Q2 for the first time

"This has been a very encouraging weekend all round," the Indian added. "We got two cars into Q2 and finished within a whisker of the points; and all on merit.

"We've incremented our performance and raced it well this weekend, and we know we have more upgrades in the pipeline, which is a great motivating factor.

"I would like to say thank you to both drivers for keeping focused and pushing so hard and to the entire team at the track and at the factory for keeping the momentum going.

"If we continue on the path we have now laid before us, I am certain we'll achieve the success we all deserve."