Fisichella Aims to Fight for Podium

Giancarlo Fisichella believes he still has a chance of fighting for a podium finish in the Belgian Grand Prix, despite a 10-place penalty leaving him 13th on the grid

Renault decided to replace Fisichella's engine after Saturday morning practice, having discovered a problem following the Italian Grand Prix, and that meant one of his best laps of the season went unrewarded.

But despite the setback, which is also a blow for Renault in their fight with McLaren for the Constructors' Championship, Fisichella is refusing to write off his chances for the race.

"I am a bit disappointed for that (the engine change), especially considering that for my qualifying lap I am pretty happy because I did a good lap.

"The car was better than this morning. I have a good potential to recover some positions tomorrow, I have a good speed and I think it would be nice to get on the podium again. I will try all my best because the last race was good for me."

Although McLaren's front row lock-out signifies that the MP4-20 remains the fastest car at the moment, Fisichella believes Renault are actually closer here than they expected to be.

"Well, considering in the last few races McLaren were stronger than us then obviously I think we have a different strategy maybe, but you never know," he said.

"The car looks alright here. We had expected to be much slower than McLaren and we are quite close, so I think tomorrow is going to be a very interesting race."