Fisi recovers from fever

The Italian reported that he felt better today however and it showed as he out-paced his young Brazilian partner throughout the day.

"I am much happier with everything today," said Fisichella. "I feel better physically, and the car was the best it's been for me all season.

"The gap between me and those in front is also closer, and I did two good, clean qualifying laps this afternoon. We worked on the car all day and got a much better balance than yesterday, and I think we will be even closer to the front in the race. The target, of course, is to score points, and I think we can do this."

Massa for his part did not get the best from his C23. Having stopped early in the first free practice session this morning, he made two mistakes on his qualifying lap.

"I made a huge mistake in the first corner, and then I went over the kerb in Turn Four and lost traction," he explained. "The second and third sectors were okay, but by then the damage was done. It's really disappointing because we improved the car a lot over the first qualifying session, even though I lost track time this morning with a fuel pressure problem which didn't make it easy to get the car balanced.

"We tend to run better in the race, though, and I always think that I can score points, so I'll be going all out to achieve that tomorrow. It'll be fantastic if I can."

Peter Sauber commented: "I am pleased that we were able to make a clear step forward over yesterday's performance. Giancarlo drove an excellent lap, and there are only five hundredths of a second separating us from eighth place. Unfortunately Felipe didn't find his rhythm today. We proved in Malaysia, however, that we had a quick and reliable race car, so I am confident we have the potential to score points tomorrow."