From all the happiness of finally receiving the winner's trophy in front of his home crowd, to the disappointments of the San Marino and Spanish Grands Prix, the last couple of weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster for Giancarlo Fisichella. From Imola to Austria, read all about it as seen through Fisichella's visor...

I don't think there are many experiences in life that compare with the rollercoaster ride of Formula One. The different qualifying format this year, plus the weather during the first three races, played a significant part in shaking-up grid positions, but just when you think you have found a little luck it can disappear as quickly again. Therefore, not finishing the San Marino and Spanish Grands Prix was tough for me and my team, because I know everyone at Jordan and Cosworth are putting in a tremendous effort to give me the best opportunity to score more points. Well, you can be sure that this is what I will be aiming for at the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday!

When I signed off my last column, I was about to take part in a charity football match with Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya at the San Marino Stadium, about 80 kms south of Imola. As you probably all know, football is my favourite sport after Formula One and I really enjoy playing with the other guys in these charity matches. We have a lot of fun, even though we take our performances seriously. I guess that helps us maintain our winning streak and yes, I scored a goal at the Imola match.

I was feeling very upbeat when I arrived at San Marino for my home Grand Prix - after all I was about to collect my first Grand Prix winner's trophy from Kimi Raikkonen at a special ceremony on Friday morning, arranged by the FIA and FOM. I would never have believed that the circuit named after Enzo Ferrari and his son would play such an important role in my racing career. It is the circuit where I won my first Formula Three race in 1992, my first year in the Italian Formula Three Championship. Five years later it was San Marino where I scored my first Formula One World Championship points, finishing fourth with Jordan.

Now, just over five years later, it is San Marino where I have received my first Formula One winner's trophy… For sure I will never forget Friday the 18th of April 2003 - the day I received the Brazilian Grand Prix Trophy in between testing and practice at Imola!

There was a great atmosphere as Kimi and I stood on the start/finish line, with Eddie Jordan and Ron Dennis, while our cars were strategically positioned on the pit straight. Kimi and I swapped our trophies and then Ron Dennis presented the Constructor's trophy to Eddie Jordan. It was an extraordinary feeling, to be standing on the grid at San Marino with the Irish and Italian national anthems playing with my home crowd cheering, watched by Bernie Ecclestone and all the drivers and team bosses. It was an extraordinary event.

At that moment I felt very, very happy; mentally, it's a great relief, because although I always believed I could win Grands Prix, after nearly eight years in Formula One and finishing second five times, it was so frustrating not to have made it to a win. Then, at that ceremony in Imola, I suddenly felt a sense of freedom; a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. And now my next goal is to receive the winner's trophy from the top step of the podium and hopefully I won't have to wait too long! In the meantime, the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix trophy is on top of my bookshelf, among my other trophies - but of course it is first in line!

The weather remained sunny and warm throughout Friday at Imola and I posted the second-fastest time during the thirty-one trouble free laps in the morning test session. Although I found an extra half a second in free practice, 11th was the highest I could get during my nine laps. Unfortunately, when it came to the qualifying session I made a couple of mistakes in the last sector at Rivazza One, so otherwise I believe I could have finished 10th. The car felt quite good but we needed to adjust the set-up slightly for Saturday's sessions, but nevertheless I felt confident that we could improve.

The Michelin runners appeared to benefit more from the cooler weather conditions on Saturday than our Bridgestone tyres. During the first free practice I was ninth, in the second session I was 11th, and 15th during the four laps I ran in warm-up. So I was not only disappointed but also quite confused by my 17th qualifying position. I hoped it was down to fuel loads and our race strategy; I also hoped the possibility of rain for Sunday would become a reality and the team would give me another strategic master-stroke as they had given me in Brazil.

Well, my race was quite eventful. The car felt pretty good and I was pushing as hard as I could and felt that we had chosen a good race strategy that could see us scoring points again. I managed to make up a couple of places during the first two laps and continued to push hard until I came in for my first pitstop while running in ninth. Unfortunately, I thought I had been given the signal to pull away when in fact the car was still being refuelled. That cost me quite a few extra seconds and so when I rejoined I was down in 18th.

I battled up to 14th, then I got caught behind Jarno Trulli and I also lost some time behind my teammate, Ralph Firman. We were on different strategies and so I wanted to get past him as quickly as possible without losing too much track position. The team did a great job on my second pitstop on lap 37, but then I discovered a hydraulics problem which thankfully stabilised again.

At this stage of the race I was running in 12th place, but with just five laps to go my engine blew-up. It was disappointing but our pace was quite good in the race, so I felt confident that we could improve our position for the next round at Barcelona.

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The following Thursday I joined Ralph at Silverstone to carry out tyre construction evaluations for Bridgestone as well as aerodynamic comparisons and control systems work. Well, I am sure you all know what English weather can be like and sure enough it was cold, wet and foggy which hindered our progress. Nevertheless, I completed about 115kms while Ralph did about 565kms during his two-day testing programme. In the end we were satisfied with the data we had acquired in preparation for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.

We know the circuit well because we tend to do most of our winter testing there, but I can't say that it is one of my favourites because it is so difficult to find a good set-up and get a good balance. Without a good balance the tyres suffer graining which makes it difficult to handle. For sure it is one of the most difficult tracks to predict what our performance will be like. Also, the area is often subject to high and gusting winds and that can make a big difference. In any case, I was feeling confident because we had some new items for the car so I would be aiming to get some more points.

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Friday's test, practice and qualifying sessions showed no hint of the drama that was awaiting me the following day! I completed 39 laps in testing, again posting second fastest time, but instead of progressing I actually lost a second to my previous best time and ended the session in 16th after 18 laps. In qualifying it was the same - I was a second away from my best time in the first session, so I ended first qualifying in 15th.

The team ran into a bit of a problem when fitting my race engine after free practice, and they had to switch to fitting the only one ready - the T-car engine. So they had to refit the T-car engine into my car, which they did in less than ten minutes, in so doing the fuel pump was slightly damaged. So the T-car engine was taken off my car and refitted into the T-car, which again they did in about ten minutes - and just in time for me to take up my qualifying slot.

Exiting the garage for qualifying was the first time I had driven the T-car, as it was Ralph's turn to have it with his settings. It is always difficult to commit fully to a strange car, especially as it was running with a heavy fuel load. Of course I was disappointed with my 17th position but in the circumstances I was grateful that the team had managed to get the car ready just in time for me to qualify at all! It was a frustrating day and I knew the race would be difficult, driving a car that I was not familiar with. But these things happen, and at times like that I tell myself I should just concentrate on doing my best.

Once again you have to marvel at the safety level of modern Grand Prix cars, as both Kimi and Antonio Pizzonia escaped unharmed after Kimi smashed into the back of Antonio's Jaguar on the grid. Even though the Safety Car was immediately deployed, we had to be extremely cautious to avoid running over any debris from the two smashed cars.

When the race resumed I was running in 15th place, sandwiched between Jarno and Heinz-Harald Frentzen. By lap 14 I was running in 12th place, eventually climbing to 6th on lap 17 and 18 during pitstops, and then it was my turn to make my first stop, on lap 19. This is where my fate was sealed, because the fuel rig failed and we had to use the other rig. That over-fuelled my car, making it very heavy to drive. It was a problem that cost me about fifteen seconds and when I resumed I was down in 18th place.

I made up two places the next lap and then by lap 25 I was up to 15th. I made my second pitstop on lap 38 without a hitch and I was still 15th when I rejoined the race. Then a few laps later the barge board broke and I lost a lot of grip, which made it very difficult to drive, but I continued as best I could until finally I had to retire on lap 44 when in 13th place with an engine problem.

I congratulate Ralph, who scored his first championship points and claimed another vital point for the Jordan Ford team. It was a very well-deserved point after such a difficult weekend. We've identified the problem with the engine and I know everyone at Cosworth are doing their best for me. Meanwhile, I remain confident for this next race and you can be sure I will be going for more points at the Austrian Grand Prix this Sunday.

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In preparation for this weekend's race I was out testing again at Silverstone last Thursday, working on aerodynamic set-up and more work on Bridgestone's tyre construction programme. We made some good progress during the 69 laps I completed of the South Circuit and so hopefully we will see the benefits in Austria.

It is a shame that the A1-Ring is going to be dropped from the Grand Prix calendar because I have had some good results there, primarily my first pole in 1998 and fifth place for Jordan last year.

Also, a good grid position is always important, but in Austria it could be a trade-off against a good race strategy, so I will have to wait until Friday after testing and practice to decide with the team which strategy to choose. That will be the same for my Bridgestone tyres - I will decide after Friday's practice sessions.

Certainly front-end grip is important at this track and although our package is not the most competitive at the moment, we are making improvements all the time so we will have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, I'll try and keep up my goal-scoring record at our next charity football match. You can be sure that I will share my views with you all in my next column, in the Monaco Grand Prix preview issue.

Ciao a tutti!

Giancarlo Fisichella's column is written exclusively for Atlas F1 by Fisichella himself, with the assistance of friend and freelance journalist Georgie Shaw.
Fisichella's official website can be found at http://www.giancarlofisichella.it.