The 17th place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix was hardly what Giancarlo Fisichella would have liked but the Italian is not crying over spilt milk and instead, is hoping to make amends at his home race in Monza on Sunday.

The Force India driver expects the local crowd to cheer for him but he also recognises the fact that it is also going to be a challenge to live up to their expectations.

"Monza is one of my favourite events on the calendar, partly because it's my home race and the crowd gets behind any of the Italian drivers but also because it's such a fantastic track," Fisichella said ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.

"It might look easy, but you have to work hard to have a set-up that allows you the speed on the straights without compromising stability through the chicanes and the curves.

"Like Spa, it's a real drivers' track and a great challenge," said the Italian.

• Download Force India wallpapers

Fisichella conceded he could not make the most of the conditions at Spa but is happy with the performance of the car.

"I'm disappointed with the ultimate result in Belgium as my race was really over at the start when Nakajima spun in front of me on the first lap.

"When I was in clean air I could push and do similar lap times to the rest of the field and we managed to make up some time with the call to change to wets very early on," he said.

Looking ahead to the Italian GP, he said, "Now in Monza we have to continue to work hard, try to qualify well and have a clean first lap to be able to take advantage of any conditions ahead. I feel confident and it would be good to be able to have a strong result at home."

His younger German team mate Adrian Sutil was buoyed by his 13th place finish in Spa and felt the side can at least give Honda a good run for their money.

"I'm feeling very positive about Monza now following the result in Belgium. We certainly did as well as we could have done on Sunday and I was happy with the performance. We had a good set up that allowed me to get past people on the straights, and I could really move through the field and had a great fight with Button," Sutil said.

"I think Honda are our closest rivals now, and this will be the case in Italy [Images]. We had a good test there last week and I think we have a good baseline set-up, we just need to work hard as we have done before and then take advantage of any chances that come our way," said the talented German.

• Formula One coverage