Spain: Altogether, a hard weekend.

Looking for answers
By Phil Huff (04/05/2003)
May 4 2003

Nick Heidfeld finished 10th for Team Sauber Petronas in today's disappointing Spanish Grand Prix, but Heinz-Harald Frentzen was forced to retire with a suspension problem.

Nick Heidfeld, who finished a distant 10th after receiving a drive-through penalty, said "Towards the end of the race I was fighting in a group with Button and Firman and da Matta. I got Button in the pit stop and then saw da Matta coming out of the pit exit as I went by. There weren't any blue flags for four laps, so what could I do? I was fighting in the same group for four laps. Then the team told me on the radio that da Matta was a lap ahead, so of course I moved over, but the next lap I got a drive-through penalty. It was really frustrating.

"It was a tough race for me because in the first stint the car was really oversteering; the tyres were massively better in the second stint, but then the last set was difficult again. Altogether, a hard weekend for me."

After retiring on lap 38 following a suspension failure, Heinz-Harald Frentzen commented "Unfortunately at the start I was on the side of the track where Coulthard and Trulli collided and lost a lot of time as a result. Then the safety car came out immediately so we decided to make my first pit stop at the end of the opening lap. After my second, on lap 30, the car felt really great and I could make up quite a bit of time. But then the left front suspension pushrod broke just as I went over a kerb and that was the end of the race for me."

Realising the lost opportunity Sauber had, team boss Peter Sauber added "The first-lap accidents and the deployment of the safety car obliged us to change our strategy straight away, but despite the fact that Heinz-Harald was right at the back as a result at the end of the opening lap, it would still have been possible to score the final point and he was on schedule to do that when he had to retire."