Trulli hopeful of stronger race

"I'm disappointed to have missed out on the top ten but we just didn't quite have the performance this afternoon," admitted Trulli after posting the 11th fastest time.

"Still I'm really happy about the job I did in qualifying and I don't think I could have got anything more out of the package.

"This morning I seemed to be short of top speed and while we improved that for the afternoon it wasn't quite enough to make it into the top ten. Still it will be a long race tomorrow and I always enjoy racing in front of my home fans.

"I have always been competitive around Monza but often missed out on results. So I will push as hard as I can and hope to turn that around," the Italian added.

Trulli's teammate Ralf Schumacher also endured a tough day, the German still complaining about his car's handling.

Schumacher will start from 13th place.

"That was certainly a bit more difficult than we expected although we already had some problems during practice," said Schumacher. "Our car has been difficult to drive this weekend and lacking in consistency and that's why we had a disappointing result in qualifying.

"After the heavy rain overnight the track was very low on grip during this morning's practice session. That continued for me in qualifying and I struggled to find the right balance in both sessions. Still, we can learn a lot from what happened today and tonight we will need to check what the problems have been.

"We have a long race tomorrow and it's possible to overtake around here. Last year we made up a few positions in the race so let's hope we can make up ground again on Sunday."