Fisichella delighted with fifth

The Italian made a steady start and moved up the order as trouble hit the cars ahead of him. He made great use of his Bridgestone tyres to put together a quick series of laps just before his pitstop, which enabled him to rejoin ahead of Heinz-Harald Frentzen. In the final few laps he reeled in the fourth placed Renault of Jarno Trulli, but he could not find a way by his countryman.

"It's a great result for me and the team," said Fisichella. "I expected do well here as I am confident on this circuit, especially when the car is going well. When I made my pitstop, the car was feeling good and the tyre grip was much better than in qualifying. I was quick and catching Trulli but it was too late to take the risk of overtaking him and possibly losing my position. A few weeks ago it was difficult to imagine that these last two results would be possible."

The result means Jordan moves up to sixth in the constructors' standings with four points, much to the pleasure of team boss Eddie Jordan.

"While it was encouraging to be fighting with Renault again, it's important to remember we still have a long way to go," he said. "We hope Honda will have an upgrade on the engine for Canada and we have a few other things to try, so hopefully we can make further improvements. The Bridgestone race tyres were excellent again today and we've worked hard on the EJ12 reliability and it is beginning to deliver rewards."