Disappointed Fisichella Hoping for Wet Race

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella is hoping for a wet British Grand Prix on Sunday after struggling in qualifying at the wheel of his Honda-powered Jordan at a dry Silverstone circuit.

The Roman driver was impressive in the wet on Friday, posting the third quickest time, but failed to shine in Saturday's session, qualifying in a disappointing 17th position after he was forced to switch to the spare car due to a broken engine.

"Obviously this was a terrible day for me, compared to yesterday," said Fisichella. "We had problems this morning and I lost the first session and most of the second session, doing less than 20 minutes on the track. During my first qualifying run, the engine went, and I am very disappointed.

"I went out to continue the session in the T-car, but it did not give quite the same feeling. I hope there will be no more problems tomorrow and that weather conditions will be wet."

Japanese teammate Takuma Sato set the 14th quickest time to complete a disappointing day for the Silverstone-based team.

"It was a tough qualifying for the team," admitted Sato. "I had a problem with the nose on my second run and the team is investigating the reason. My first run wasn't bad but then the car had a lot of nervousness in high speed corners.

"The track temperatures were rising all the time and the tyres were graining, so I lost grip and couldn't improve on my time. I think I did a 100% job but another tenth could have put me a couple of places higher."