Fisichella hampered by hydraulic issues

The Italian, who was tenth fastest in the morning session, ultimately placed 16th in the final 90 minutes. Nevertheless Fisichella was upbeat over the pace of the Force India this weekend.

"I was quite happy with today and am looking forward to qualifying on Saturday," he said. "Apart from a small problem in the last session that stopped me from doing my new tyre run, I was quite happy with the set up and the balance.

"We're working well around the track but we will have to see what happens over the weekend as the weather could change and the track conditions too."

Team-mate Adrian Sutil didn't entirely agree with Fisichella's assessment after once again encountering understeer issues that ensured he remained in the bottom five positions throughout the day.

"In general it was okay, but we have a few problems with the understeer on the car again and the same procedure with the tyres as in all the previous events - it is very difficult to get the tyres to work well," said the German, who starred in the wet Saturday morning practice session at Monaco a year ago.

"The long runs are quite quick and I am quite happy about it but over the shorter runs we have to work with the tyres a bit more.

"I think though with a bit of work we can be quite competitive over the weekend."