Highlights -Italian GP qualifying

By David Coulthard BBC Sport in Italy

For the last week Giancarlo Fisichella has been living the dream as he waited to drive for Ferrari on home turf at the Italian Grand Prix, but reality has suddenly dawned for the Italian at Monza this weekend.

Fisichella, who claimed his best race result of the season two weeks ago with second in Spa for Force India, could qualify only 14th on Saturday and had to watch as his old team succeeded in getting both cars in the top 10 for the first time in their short history.

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You can be forgiven for thinking how has this happened, especially when Kimi Raikkonen lines up third.

The reality is Fisichella is only half a second off the pace of his Ferrari team-mate, which is a fair bit better than his predecessor Luca Badoer managed.

While Fisichella felt at one with the Force India, which was built around him, he has had a lot to get used to since his switch to the Scuderia.

He has had to learn how to handle the car's braking and, most significantly, the Kers power-boost system. It isn't just a case of pushing the button and, whoosh, you gain 80bhp.

Kers works by storing energy during braking which is then converted into power on acceleration, so braking is crucial to the process.

The installation of the Kers system fundamentally changes the balance of the car and how it handles; all that is a big, big difference for Fisichella to get used to.

Having said that, modern F1 is so close that you cannot afford to be half a second off the pace - you have to be right up there.

Fisichella's former team-mate Adrian Sutil has taken his opportunity at Force India by qualifying second on the grid.

The 26-year-old German has shown flashes of potential greatness in the past, especially at last season's Monaco GP where he came so close to fourth place before being taken out by a late shunt from Raikkonen.

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The Force India's form is allowing Sutil to show that he is someone to be considered by the top teams but he needs a strong race result now to really convince them.

Sutil's team-mate Tonio Liuzzi starts in seventh on his return to the grid but both Force Indias are likely to get swamped by the Kers cars off the start.

Watch out for Raikkonen jumping up to second and Fernando Alonso weaving through the field now his Renault has been refitted with Kers.

Sutil lines up behind his best mate, pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. They've holidayed together and hang out but they will be competitors on the race track come Sunday. Sutil won't expect any favours from Hamilton any more than the world champion will give any.

Friendships get tested when you go wheel-to-wheel together. I had friends on the track - in the early days I got along with Jacques Villeneuve and in my latter days Jenson Button and Mark Webber - but you are out there to develop your career, not do favours.

Interview - top three drivers on grid (UK only)

I think Hamilton was lucky not to receive a penalty for coming out in front of Sebastian Buemi's Toro Rosso during qualifying.

The rules on impeding are quite clear and it could have been a different scenario if he had come out in front of Raikkonen, for example.

Nonetheless, Hamilton has to be feeling that the second half of his season is a bit more fun than the first.

So, that all brings us to the championship battle.

Brawn will be happy after seeing Rubens Barrichello qualify in fifth just ahead of championship leader Button.

The real battle for Brawn is between the two team-mates. I don't think it is a question of whether Button's head is in gear or not in gear.

He has had a couple of races when Barrichello out-performed him but the wily old Brazilian handed out the same punishment to the great Michael Schumacher on more than one occasion so he's no slouch.

Button may have subconsciously tightened up but I don't see anything to suggest he's come back here with a sense of 'OK boys, I've been off to the shrink, I've got it sorted out and I'm up the challenge.'

It's the natural ebb and flow of a sporting season and not every sportsman is at the top of their game in every event and he doesn't need to be either.

Brawn and team happy with qualifying

All Button needs now is to be neck-and-neck with his team-mate and stay ahead of the Red Bulls.

Christian Horner's team haven't given up on the titles yet; there's no point in giving up because the whole driving force behind the team is to try to win.

Of course, Red Bull are realists and they know that with more than 20 points to pull back with only 50 available it is a long shot.

Their case in Monza has been made all the more difficult as Sebastian Vettel qualified ninth ahead of Mark Webber in 10th and it seems unlikely that they will out-score the Brawns here.

The changing form of the field in Italy is all down to the completely different aerodynamic package - an altered front and rear wing - that the teams use on Monza's low-downforce track.

It fundamentally changes the way these cars perform. Just because you were good at Spa on the medium downforce doesn't mean you will be good here on low.

Red Bull and Toyota have both dropped back and Force India are the only exception who have kept their performance.

Ultimately, it is the fuel strategy at Monza that holds the winning hand.

The pole position is all fine and well but if you pit early the fuel effect will be overtaken very quickly by the cars still out on circuit; anyone on an early pit-stop will get hammered.

The first three on the grid are all on two-stop strategies, with everyone else in the top 10 on one. So it's highly likely that the top three at the end of the race will be very different from that at the end of qualifying.

David Coulthard won 13 Grands Prix in a 15-year F1 career. He is a BBC Sport pundit and a consultant for Red Bull. He was talking to BBC Sport's Sarah Holt.

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