Fisichella eyeing points in Melbourne

The Italian will compete in his first race with the Silverstone-based squad in Australia, having moved from the Renault team at the end of the 2007 season.

"I feel confident for this first race with Force India," said Fisichella in a team preview. "My first target is to get into Q2, but then the final hope is to score Force India's first point in the championship.

"You can see that every test we have moved forward and made some good progress - at the last test in Barcelona in particular where our laptimes confirmed we are going in the right direction with the car.

"I did two longer runs at the final test and was very pleased with the balance and consistency.

"The results matched our expectations and we found about half a second, and we know there is more to come, so everything is very positive," added the Italian, who reckons there is still more speed to come from Force India's car.

"We have maybe another two to three tenths to come from new developments we have in the pipeline, which could mean a step forward and another few places on the grid," he said.

"Looking at the other teams, under race conditions I do not think they will get away from us that easily."

Teammate Adrian Sutil says he is excited about the prospect of racing along Fisichella, and the German is also upbeat about Force India's form this season.

"For me it's a positive challenge to have Giancarlo in the team as he will push me, which is important for the future," Sutil said. "It will be difficult, but this is what I need, as if you are pushed, you have to put in your maximum effort.

"You can see that the team is better structured this year, and everything seems to be going in the right direction, there is more budget, and we can develop the parts we wanted to last year, but couldn't because of resources.

"My goals are to do everything possible to be better this year; to make fewer mistakes and get a few points. I want to help the team move forward."