21/05/2005
NEWS STORY
Sauber drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa achieved ninth and 12th positions respectively after this afternoon's first qualifying session, so tomorrow they will start final qualifying tenth and seventh in the running order.
Jacques Villeneuve: "That was better than I expected. To begin with we changed the car quite a lot since Thursday, but otherwise we left the set-up alone as the day progressed. The balance was neutral, and it was just a matter of doing the laps and getting used to the car and the tyres, and then taking some risks. It was a hard lap but I didn't make any mistakes, so I'm happy so far."
Felipe Massa: "I couldn't run a fast lap with new tyres until I went out this afternoon, and to be honest I wasn't 100 percent confident. I couldn't get a feel for the level of grip at times and that was just enough to make the difference. It would have been very easy to make a significant mistake and damage the car. But from where I am it is still possible to fight, both in qualifying and the race tomorrow."
Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "Our goal is always to qualify in the top 10, but we knew that would be very difficult here. I am very happy that Jacques is ninth so far, but unfortunately Felipe was not able to deliver an optimal lap this time. Now we have a new challenge tomorrow, to retain our strong grid positions while choosing the right strategy for what is always a tough race."