Q: Giancarlo, a lot has been said about the Renault over the winter, about how well it is going, as we saw yesterday, but I guess no-one expected the conditions that determined this session today?
Giancarlo Fisichella: First of all I am really happy about my qualifying session. Yes, I have been really lucky because I went out at the right moment and as soon as I finished my flying lap it started raining. So it is great as well because I have a big gap ahead of my competitors. The car felt good, I have a good feeling with the balance, I feel comfortable and as I told you it is the best start in my life and I know I have a great car and I will fight to win the race.

Q: You mentioned it rained towards the end of that lap, did that affect you in any way? Did you have to come off the pace a little?
GF: It was raining just at the end of my flying lap so after turn one it was very heavy and on my in lap it was difficult to come back. I went even a little on the grass, but I was slowing down and it was okay.

Q: Jarno, perhaps this was a little bit of a surprise for you, after a relatively difficult weekend so far? A great result today?
Jarno Trulli: I think I have to point out that anyway, compared to the people that run with me, with intermediate tyres, I was the quickest. The car seems good, felt good all weekend. We have done different testing all the weekend, even this morning, and I think the performance is there. Obviously Giancarlo is the only driver ahead of me, with slick tyres, but I am happy that I couldn’t have had a better start to the season.

Q: What are your thoughts now on tomorrow and how it will go tomorrow? Obviously the weather is an unknown factor, but if it is normal how will you approach qualifying?
JT: Well with this new format it is a bit of a gamble as we have seen today and so we have to play it by ear. Let’s see what happens tomorrow and I will try to do my best. It will be nice to score some points at the end of the race, but again anything can happen. It would be nice to start the season well with my new team and bring some points and starting from now to the end improving our performance.

Q: Mark, Australian Grand Prix, and here you are P3 on the first day of qualifying. Things couldn’t be looking better for you than they do at the moment and I hope that’s not tempting fate.
Mark Webber: Of course, it was a very lucky session for us, whatever the order was they were going to be the quickest at the time. We did a reasonable lap and then there were a few others who went quicker because the track was quicker and then Giancarlo took some grooves and Jacques, who was relatively close to me on his grooved tyres. Then it rained at the end and that was a bonus for us because of the aggregate position because nobody could improve so tomorrow morning we will see. I think the grid will stay relatively close. I think the traffic was quite close at the end in terms of the guys on the wets so they might move around a little bit. No-one knows what the weather is going to do. If it is dry, I don’t think anyone is going to be spread out anything as much as they were today.

Q: It was more than a fair lap. You are three seconds quicker than your team-mate and it looked a great lap out on the circuit.
MW: Yes, I was very happy with it. I got my braking points pretty good which is not easy in those conditions because the track is changing a lot in front of you, picking the right tyres, the right pressures, all those kinds of thing are crucial. Nick did make a small mistake. So I don’t think it is fair to compare too much. Happy with the lap.

Q: Back to you Giancarlo: obviously you want to be on pole tomorrow and it is there for the taking, what will be your philosophy going into the session tomorrow, obviously with fuel and having to run used tyres in your case?
GF: Yes, I think we are going to play a little with the fuel load. We have enough of a gap to do that. I think it is better to be conservative on my flying lap tomorrow. I have nothing to lose. So it is better to be in pole position.

Q: But it is not always easy to drive a conservative lap…
GF: That’s right. Conservative, but not slow.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Giancarlo, first of all, can we establish that you were on dry tyres?
GF: It wasn’t easy to make the decision in that moment. The circuit was getting dryer and dryer very quickly and on the out lap I was really nervous. It was very slippery and some parts were quite damp and so it wasn’t so easy. The car balance was good and the grip was good enough to push a little bit apart from some places where it was damp. I did a clean lap and I am happy about that. It is really good because I have a big gap compared with my competitors and this is good for tomorrow. We can play a little with the fuel loads and I can be a little bit conservative on my second qualifying session.

Q: How has the dry weather running been so far?
GF: Well, we didn’t run enough in dry conditions yesterday. We did just over 20 laps and the car balance was quite good. It wasn’t fantastic, but overnight we did the right things and this morning was better. Yesterday we drove all day with a lot of fuel. I was confident yesterday even if I wasn’t in the top eight places. So I am happy now because I am on pole and I hope to keep it tomorrow.