Fisichella hoping for points if race wet

The Italian became the first Force India driver ever to make it into Q2 in yesterday's qualifying session, and is upbeat about his chances of scoring the team's first points of the season in the race.

"Rain would be better, and it would be a good possibility for us to have a good race and to score points," Fisichella told autosport.com. "If it's dry, it will be more normal but starting from the middle of the grid still puts us in a good position for the race."

The Italian also believes that he would have made it into Q3 but for getting caught out by standing water at the Ascari chicane on his quickest lap.

"Q2 was good," he said. "I did a good first lap but on the second I made a mistake on a lap which could have got me into the top ten. It's a shame because I was 12th just two-hundredths of a second slower than tenth.

"I made the mistake in Ascari. It was raining the rest of the lap and the circuit was OK, then when I got to Ascari there was more standing water. I lost the rear end of the car and three or four tenths.

"In a way we are happy but we know we could have got into the top ten. The weather conditions are the main reason why we are there, but it's a very good day for the team and myself. The car is important, but in those conditions the driver can do much more."

Fisichella only just made it out of Q1 with a late lap which took him out of the drop zone after being caught out by traffic on his first run.

"I went out behind a lot of other cars and there was a lot of spray," he said. "It was impossible to drive. The visibility was zero. I was braking 50 metres earlier than normal so I called into the pits because I could not drive like that.

"I changed tyres but didn't change the car. There was some traffic, but in the last couple of laps I did two good ones and got into the top 15."