Fisichella says more to come from Renault

The Italian secured fifth place on the grid, just one place ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen, and his sights are now firmly set on a battle with nearest rivals BMW Sauber.

"This result shows we have made more good progress with the new parts we brought here for the car," said Fisichella. "My feeling is better now, and there is more grip; the result is that the gap to the leading teams has shrunk a little bit more.

"It is very motivating to be driving with the team at the moment, and seeing the progress we are making at every race thanks to the hard work at the factory and at the track. We know there is the potential for more too, so everybody is feeling confident.

"In terms of qualifying, I was struggling with understeer this morning in practice, and even through the first part of qualifying. But my engineers did a great job to find some adjustments, and the car got better.

"My final timed lap was very clean, and fifth is a good starting position because we have a good strategy. I'm looking forward to the race."

Kovalainen was especially happy with his performance, having struggled with a power-steering problem throughout qualifying.

"This has been a good recovery from yesterday, when I was struggling a bit with the car," said the Finn. "The handling was good all day, and the times were competitive.

"I had a power steering problem in qualifying though, and that cost me time, especially in Q3. The car was pulling quite hard to the left, so it was very difficult braking and turning in.

"So for sure there was more time to come, but even so, the third row is a good starting position for me, equal to my best at the last race in Indy, and our performance shows we are going in the right direction. But it's a good starting point. Now let's see what the race brings."