Fisichella hopeful Monaco was no one-off

The Renault driver enjoyed his and his team's strongest showing of the season at Monte Carlo, where the Roman qualified and finished in fourth position.

Although the peculiar nature of the street circuit doesn't guarantee Renault will be strong at the much faster Montreal track, Fisichella is hoping the French squad con continue with the recovery from their disappointing start to the year.

"Hopefully it will continue," Fisichella told a news conference ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. "We are pushing for that. The team made a big step forward and we are really concentrating on a few areas.

"With the new front wing in Monte Carlo we definitely made a step forward. We finished in front of BMW, but it is difficult to say. Monaco is a very different circuit and we are quite positive even for here, but we don't know with the new package for low downforce how will it be."

The team tested their Canadian Grand Prix set-up at Paul Ricard last month, and the Italian believes Renault's form was promising for the weekend ahead.

"Ricard wasn't too bad for us, on the last day I was second quickest," he added. "The car balance was quite good so it looks to be working a little bit better even with the level of downforce for Canada.

"It looks promising but I cannot say if we can be better than BMW or slower. But I am quite optimistic."

Fisichella admitted the Gilles Villeneuve circuit always brings good memories to him, after several strong races there in the past.

"I have a good feeling, good memories, I have been four times on the podium. I did my first career podium here in 1997, it is a good circuit for me. I think it is not that simple circuit, the level of grip is quite low and especially in the braking point, the stability of the car is fairly inconsistent.

"Straight away I got a good feeling and I feel comfortable in the circuit."