Fisichella delighted to reach Q2 at last

"Of course I'm really pleased to be able to give the team its first entry into Q2 this year and particularly here in Monza," said Fisichella, who benefited from the tricky conditions to qualify in 12th.

"Conditions in the first session were bad at the start and it was difficult to find some grip but they improved at the end and that was when I was able to find some space and push.

"We went out as soon as we could in the second session as the rain was getting heavier and we really did the optimum - we weren't too far from Q3 with the quickest lap.

"Unfortunately then the rain just got worse and it was going to be impossible to improve."

After his strong showing, the Roman said he will aiming for a points finish tomorrow.

"I'm really looking forward to the race, and with the predicted rain I think it will be very exciting," he added.

"I'm going to try hard here - I scored my first win in similar conditions in Brazil with this team, and although that's going to be difficult here, we can at least try for points."

Adrian Sutil, fastest in the first practice session in the wet on Friday, was unable to match his performance today as the German struggled to get to grips with his second set of tyres during Q1.

In the end, Sutil finished down in 20th position.

"A bit disappointing as I had a good balance in the rain," he said. "The first set of tyres worked really well and we were very competitive but then I changed tyres and suddenly we lost all the grip and I was about six tenths a lap slower in better conditions.

"We have to figure out what went wrong, but all the same I think that we've got every chance of making up for this tomorrow."