Fisichella hopeful of stronger race pace

The Force India driver was unable to escape the final row of the grid and will start the race from 19th place.

The Italian, however, is adamant his team's pace will be stronger in race trim.

"It was a difficult qualifying session for us as the whole field is very close," said Fisichella. "We did three single lap runs, one on the harder tyre and two on the soft, to try and get the most out of the tyres and the car felt better balanced than this morning.

"We still have some understeer issues, particularly when it gets hotter as it did this afternoon. We will have to see for the race now as we know that we are more competitive under race conditions."

Teammate Adrian Sutil will start from the bottom of the grid, despite admitting he was feeling pretty comfortable with his car's handling.

"The general balance of the car was OK and it was quite nice to drive particularly after the problems we had yesterday, but it's so close," he said. "We need to improve so that's why we're at the back of the grid for now.

"We know though that our race pace is good compared to the others and we can stay with them so now we need to concentrate on getting to the end of the race and having a good finish, that's what is important."