Fisichella targets points

Fisichella, who switches from Jordan for 2004, says he hopes to be back in the top half of the grid on a regular basis this year, and feels a points-scoring finish in Melbourne is a realistic goal.

"It's one of those races where, if you can finish, you can usually take some points," said Fisichella. "I have a good feeling with the Sauber Petronas C23, especially after our latest tests in Spain and Italy where we did a very good job on set-up and tyre development with Bridgestone. We did a very good time at Imola, using the latest Bridgestones. So I'm feeling optimistic that we can qualify in the first five rows and hopefully score some points straight away."

His new team-mate Felipe Massa returns to grand prix racing after taking a year out to test with Ferrari.

"I'm so happy to be racing again, especially in Melbourne where I made my grand prix debut in 2002," he said. "There are some new rules since I was last here, notably single-lap qualifying, but that will be okay. I have done some simulation work on that during our tests, and it has gone well for me.

"I believe that the Sauber Petronas C23 has a lot of potential. Of course it's always hard to know just where you are after all the winter testing, and Melbourne will give us our first true indication of our position overall and then we will really know where we are.

"But we have a good car and the latest Bridgestone tyres, which incorporated the new construction and compound, were good at our Imola test. Bridgestone has been working really hard, and it showed there. I'm encouraged by that, and am looking forward to scoring some points in Australia."