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Fab Fisi makes Force history in wet Monza!
By Karl King September 13 2008
Giancarlo Fisichella has made history for the Force India F1 team this afternoon in Monza by getting the team through to Q2 for the first time in their 2008 guise. Fisichella made the most of the changeable wet weather conditions to make it into the top 16 in Q1, putting him through to the second session where he managed to set the 12th fastest time - just a few hundreths off making it to Q3.


"Of course I'm really pleased to be able to give the team its first entry into Q2 this year and particularly here in Monza. Conditions in the first session were bad at the start and it was difficult to find some grip but they improved at the end and that was when I was able to find some space and push. We went out as soon as we could in the second session as the rain was getting heavier and we really did the optimum - we weren't too far from Q3 with the quickest lap. Unfortunately then the rain just got worse and it was going to be impossible to improve.

"I'm really looking forward to the race, and with the predicted rain I think it will be very exciting. I'm going to try hard here - I scored my first win in similar conditions in Brazil with this team, and although that's going to be difficult here, we can at least try for points."

His team mate, Adrian Sutil, who had shown so much promise over the course of the weekend with a 1st, 9th and 11th in FP1, FP2 and FP3 respectively, wound up last.

Adrian was the slowest man on track at the end of the first session and ended up with a time more than four tenths slower than 19th placed man Jenson Button.

He explained, "A bit disappointing as I had a good balance in the rain. The first set of tyres worked really well and we were very competitive but then I changed tyres and suddenly we lost all the grip and I was about six tenths a lap slower in better conditions. We have to figure out what went wrong, but all the same I think that we've got every chance of making up for this tomorrow."

Vijay Mallya said that he is "absolutely delighted with this qualifying result here in Monza."

He added, "We've been striving for this all year and finally, in some of the worst conditions this season, we have got it. I have to say thank you to Giancarlo for driving a fantastic lap in the wet and cross my fingers that he can convert this into a strong result tomorrow."

He is also optimistic for Sutil, who he explains he has faith in: "Adrian was unlucky today. As we have seen many times over this season though, he is a very capable wet weather driver and I am in no doubt that he will show this in race conditions tomorrow."

History was made elsewhere on the grid today with STR's Sebastian Vettel grabbing his maiden pole position.

*Apologies for the earlier published error stating that Fisi was 13th and was two tenths off making it into Q2....

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