Fisichella lauds 'almost perfect' lap

The Italian was the fastest Bridgestone runner behind the two Ferrari's, and was just 0.061s behind world champion Michael Schumacher.

"I did a very good lap today, almost perfect," said Fisichella. "The car was reasonably good, although I didn't think we would get on the first four rows so I'm pleased. We did a good job, the mechanics and everybody, and I'm hoping for a good race tomorrow. Maybe I will score some points."

His team-mate, British rookie Ralph Firman, was also happy with his qualifying run. Although he will only start from 16th on the grid, he was happy with improvements to his car after he struggled throughout the practice sessions.

"We made some changes to the car between practice and qualifying which improved the car a lot so I'm pretty happy," said Firman. "I made a small mistake but I would have been in the same position anyway I think. We've got a good car for the race and I'm looking forward to it."

Gary Anderson, Jordan's director of race and test engineering, said that he was hopeful of points in the race. "I'm reasonably confident with the way it ended up," he said. "To be honest, we will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow but hopefully we've got a good strategy and with a bit of luck we can score some points."