Just when he thought things could not get much worse this season, Giancarlo Fisichella endured one of the most disappointing and tough races in Hungary three weeks ago. But now the Italian is aiming to leave that behind and concentrate on his home Grand Prix and next season with Sauber. Read all of Fisichella's thoughts here, through his visor...

The Hungarian Grand Prix is a notoriously tough test for drivers and cars alike; as a purpose-built Grand Prix circuit there is very little grip until a number of us have been out testing and laid some rubber down. Also its Summer slot on the Grand Prix calendar means that we run in high temperatures - not good for my Jordan Ford or our Bridgestone tyres. Neither is its tight and twisty layout ideally suited to my EJ13, so with this in mind, I was expecting the Hungarian Grand Prix to be a tough weekend for my Jordan Ford team, but none of us could have imagined it would be as tough a challenge as it turned out to be with both EJ13s failing to get to the finish.

Yet one thing is for sure, my teammate Ralph was very fortunate to escape from his high-speed accident with little harm to himself after his rear wing failed during Saturday's first practice session. And although the hospital's medical reports (scans and x-rays) were OK, I was not surprised that Professor Sid Watkins (FIA Medical Delegate) decided it was best that Ralph was withdrawn from final qualifying and the Grand Prix itself. After all Ralph had suffered mild concussion and, like my former teammate Jenson (Button) who also suffered mild concussion after heavily crashing his BAR into the barriers at Monaco, he too was withdrawn from competing in the Grand Prix. Understandably Ralph was disappointed to be left a spectator for the rest of the weekend but it gave our test driver Zsolt Baumgartner a fantastic opportunity to qualify and compete in his first Grand Prix on home soil at the Hungaroring. Once again my team were making Formula One history when Zsolt took over Ralph's vacant seat to become Hungary's first Grand Prix driver.

As we predicted the track surface was very green, offering us little grip when we first went out on Friday and soon afterwards my problems started. In fact I only managed to complete seven laps in the two-hour practice session as I had two engine failures and with little time remaining I had to abandon my race car and use the T-car. It was a disappointing and frustrating start and although my team did their best to get me back out, with the track temperature rising and limited time remaining, 11th was the best I could do in the first test session. To add to the difficulties, the Hungaroring is also notorious for the amount of dust that collects on the track and, although the marshals do their best to sweep it clean, the continuous gusts of wind make it a fruitless task as deposits of sand collect in unsuspecting places. Not what we need to find on the apex of a bend!

I managed to complete 16 laps during free practice, but once again the best we could get from our package was a 1:24.474, still two seconds off the leaders. By the time we went out on track for first qualifying the track temperatures were even hotter, which made it very difficult to find grip - conditions that were much more suited to the Michelin-shod runners. I found it quite difficult to find enough grip during this session and, as most of us discovered, our times were down on the earlier session - I recorded 1:24.725 which put me in 16th in first qualifying. Hopefully Saturday would be better...

Just when you think situations cannot get any worse they often do and when Ralph slammed into the barriers after his rear wing failed, we were just relieved that apart from mild concussion his only injury was a severely bruised heel. Once my team had confirmed that any reoccurrence was highly unlikely we resumed our programme. Unfortunately most of the session had been lost while the team investigated the cause of the component failure, but we did our best with the remaining track time to find the best balance and strategy for the Grand Prix. When I went out for the final qualifying session I was pleased to find that I had a good balance and our choice of Bridgestone compound gave me better grip than I had found previously. I felt confident to push hard and managed to put together a clean lap without any mistakes to give me a 1:23.726, my quickest lap so far that weekend. After all our difficulties it was good to be within striking distance of the top ten and I felt my 13th position could give me just the sort of opportunity I needed to score some more Championship points the following day. My team had done a great job in the circumstances and at the end of the day I felt satisfied that we had all done the best job we could.

For sure there are some great people at Jordan Ford and I will always have a special feeling for Eddie Jordan who gave me my first full season in Formula One (1997) and whose EJ13 gave me the opportunity to win my first Grand Prix in Brazil earlier this year, but having decided the best option for my career would be to join Peter Sauber's team next year, I confirmed that fact to the press on Saturday. I feel very happy to have reached an agreement with Peter Sauber. I was very impressed with the team's new wind-tunnel when I visited the factory last July and Peter Sauber gave me some technical guarantees about next year's car which helped me come to the decision to drive for him. Also he is one of my biggest fans - which is great and, importantly his close relationship with Ferrari makes me excited for our prospects for next season and my future career. For now however I am totally committed to my Jordan Ford team and given the right opportunity I will of course continue to fight for more Championship points to help their final standings in the Constructors' Championship.

Starting from 13th position on the grid I was at least on the clean side of the track, which gives a significant advantage over those starting on the dirty side. I made the most of that and got a clean start and picked up a couple of places to end lap one in 11th place. Just as I had found my EJ13 had a good balance in qualifying the day before, on race day the car felt much more nervous and I didn't have as much grip with the tyres - it was quite difficult to handle and I lost a few places when I had a moment off track on lap five. I soldiered on until my race was cut short when my engine failed on lap 29. It was a disappointing end to a difficult weekend, but I was already looking ahead to the Monza tests in preparation for the Italian Grand Prix. Congratulations to Fernando Alonso on winning his first Grand Prix and being the youngest driver ever to win a race.

Again we know Monza will be difficult for us but having successfully carried out our test programme last Wednesday and Thursday I am looking forward to racing in Italy. There is always a fantastic atmosphere at Monza and it would be great to finish where I finished last year in eighth place because at least that would give my Jordan team one more point - but we will have to wait and see what happens on Friday and Saturday. Beforehand and when this next issue of Atlas F1 is published later today I shall be doing my best to help our Grand Prix Drivers' Team win another football match.

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.