{image-Giancarlo Fisichella_15032008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Melbourne, March 15: Giancarlo Fisichella fell precisely 1.067 seconds shy of making the cut for the second qualifying session and both the Italian as well as his Force India team-mate Adrian Sutil will now start from the back of the grid in the Australian Grand Prix here tomorrow.

Fisichella will start 17th in this year's season opener tomorrow, while his younger German colleague Sutil will be 19th on the grid - with the team's hopes of securing a point now depending more on extraordinary circumstances than performance.
At the top, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won pole position after warding off a strong challenge from BMW's Robert Kubica, who briefly took the lead before the Briton outpaced him in the third and final qualifying session.

Fisichella had reason to be frustrated after he failed to reproduce the form that saw him hovering around the top 10 in the three practice sessions.
Ironically, just when it mattered most, the Roman clocked 1:26.140 to finish 17th among 22 drivers and hurtle to the back of the grid.

Though he was running fever since yesterday, which meant he was not in the best of shape, the Italian was on the cusp of achieving the team's target of making it to the second qualifying round.

Also falling by the wayside was Sutil, who spun out on the 12th turn before timing 1:27.859 to be 19th.

World champion Kimi Raikkonen clocked an impressive 1:26.140 in the first qualifying session before a fuel pressure regulator problem did not allow him to come out for the second qualifying. He will start 16th tomorrow.

OneIndia News