Sauber drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa finished 13th and 14th respectively after today's first practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve: "The car was quite nicely balanced and we had a better day than we expected. It's the same car, but it seems better suited to tracks where you have chicanes and heavy braking, like Imola. The surface is grippier than last year, mainly because of the new asphalt, so that helped. But here's a good day on a Friday and ultimately it meant only 13th place."

Felipe Massa: "That session was quite okay. We seem more competitive here than at other tracks recently. The pace of the car was reasonable and there was good grip on the new surface, although it is still bumpy going into the hairpin and down the main straight.

"My only problem was that I had yellow flags on my two laps on new tyres so I wasn't able to make use of them. There's more to come from me because of that, so it doesn't look too bad."

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "At first glance 13th and 14th places after the first day are nothing special, but if you take out the Friday drivers and look at the gap between us and the front runners it is clear that we have reduced the deficit. Now it is crucial to make the right decisions on tyre choice and set-up so that we can qualify well tomorrow."