The Italian converted his supreme Saturday advantage – which came thanks to some less than perfect weather – into a front row start for the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

Fisichella may not have been fastest – Williams’ Mark Webber blitzed his rivals on home soil – but he nonetheless ended the morning almost three seconds ahead of the second placed Toyota Jarno Trulli.

The pace-setting Webber remained in third, despite setting an individual time over one second faster than that of Trulli, ahead of Jacques Villeneuve (Sauber) and David Coulthard (Red Bull).

Coulthard was one of the surprises of the session. The Scot recorded one of the day’s fastest times to leapfrog his team-mate Christian Klien for position five, despite his traditional struggle with the single-lap system.

Kimi Raikkonen (ninth, McLaren), Juan Pablo Montoya (10th, McLaren) and Rubens Barrichello (11th, Ferrari) all gained one position at the expense of Jordan’s Indian rookie, Narain Karthikeyan.

Ralf Schumacher was the biggest mover as he gained two positions, to 15th, in his Toyota.