Fisichella laments qualifying struggle

The Italian, fresh from finishing second at the Belgian Grand Prix with Force India, endured a difficult weekend at Monza, qualifying in 14th position and going on to finish in ninth, nearly a minute behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Fisichella reckons his race was made more difficult after failing to achieve a better qualifying position.

"We were quite close to score points today but the main problem has been my grid position, it wasn't great, so it was difficult to recover from the midfield where I was," Fisichella said.

"I did a good job and ti is important with Kimi to score more points than McLaren and next race I will try my best to score more points."

He added: "It was a tough race. My grid position was difficult, but I did a good start and I overtook a couple of cars at the start.

"Then I was struggling a little bit with a heavy car and the grip level at the beginning of the stint, but once I was getting a bit more confident I was able to be quite competitive, the same pace as the quickest car and I had the same problem with the hard tyres after the pitstop.

"I was struggling a little bit with the pace at the beginning but then at the end of the race I was doing well. It was a great feeling for me and the Ferrari fans. Hopefully the next race is going to be better."

Despite failing to score, the Roman was still encouraged by his race pace, after his fastest lap was close to Raikkonen's.

"Kimi as you know is a great driver, he has been a world champion with Ferrari, now he is very motivated. In the last few races he scored a lot of points, three or four podiums on the row, he won the last race, was third again today and you can say he is very focused.

"So it is good to be close to him in terms of laptime, at the end of the race a couple of tenths slower than him is very good."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali said the Italian driver had met Ferrari's expectations.

"Giancarlo performed well," Domenicali said. "He had a difficult Saturday, and it was his first time with us on Friday.

"Today I think it was important for him to arrive at the end of the race, he was ninth, and I am sure that the next race he will have the experience needed to understand the car and it is not so easy to handle, that is one comment that we have to take on board, and I think from Singapore he will be able to fight for the points."