Formula One news

Upbeat Fisichella eyes top ten

Giancarlo Fisichella has been happily surprised this season that his Force India car has soon become far more competitive than he originally feared. On the back of a top ten finish in Spain - the team's best result this season - Fisichella is hopeful of repeating the feat in Turkey.

"We are doing better than we expected at the moment, as apart from Australia, we have finished every race in the top 12," said Fisichella. "We are still a young team but everyone is getting more confident with every race and getting in the top 10 in Spain was our best finishing position of the year so far."

"The car balance was good and our second stint in the race was particularly encouraging," he added. "We need to improve in qualifying now as we had some problems with reduced grip and had to do two flying laps, which isn't ideal. We have spent a lot of time analysing why the performance drops from practice to qualifying and I am hopeful we will not have the same problems again in Turkey. Of course at the moment the field is so close that one tenth of a second can mean the difference between Q2 and just missing out, so we have to make sure we are completely on top of the game."

"I enjoy Istanbul and have had some good results there, including a 4th in 2005," he added. "It's a very challenging track with some nice high-speed sections that are difficult to get right. It is going to be a tough race but once again we need to keep pushing. The car is very reliable and, if we get qualifying right, we could be up there again in the top 10 and ready to take advantage and pick up points if anything happens in front."

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