25/09/2004
NEWS STORY
Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella will start tomorrow's inaugural Chinese Grand Prix from fourth and seventh positions respectively after this afternoon's qualifying sessions. This is the team's best qualifying result of the season.
Giancarlo Fisichella: "Unfortunately for me the track conditions changed slightly since this morning, so right from the beginning of the lap my tyres grained and the car began understeering quite strongly. I tried to be easy on it in the second sector, but the understeer was still there in the final corners. Nevertheless, seventh place is a good starting position and I am feeling confident of challenging for points tomorrow afternoon."
Felipe Massa: "P4 is really good! For me it was almost a perfect qualifying session. The new Bridgestones worked so well straight away, and I was able to drive a lap without any graining. If it was this good for me in qualifying, I know that it can be stronger still when the track is in even better condition tomorrow, so I'm looking ahead to a competitive race. This is a fantastic result for the team, which just keeps growing and growing. It's a tribute to the work Bridgestone has done, but also to all the guys back in the wind tunnel in Hinwil and the crew here in China."
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "What a great welcome for us at this fantastic new venue. We have liked the Shanghai International Circuit right from the moment we first saw it, and now it seems that the feeling must be mutual! This is our best qualifying performance of the year and a wonderful result for us. Congratulations to Felipe and to Giancarlo, and thanks to Bridgestone for providing us with such a competitive tyre. And we must not forget too that this result was only possible because of the whole team's diligent and successful development of the SAUBER PETRONAS C23. We look forward to a great inaugural Chinese Grand Prix."