Dazzling First Round Results Don't Show for Grid

By Jamie Makin (8/5/2004)
May 9 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow´s Spanish Grand Prix from 12th and 17th places respectively after this afternoon´s qualifying sessions.

The day started on a high for the team as Fisichella and Massa scored 2nd and 3rd places respectively in the pre-qualifying session. Although little explanation was offered by the team for the phenomenal result, the noteworthy thing is that they achieved it without bad luck on the part of the other teams or intervention from mother nature. Sadly, they could not maintain the pace in the final qualifying session when it counted.

Massa clearly admitted fault for letting the team and fans down. "I made a mistake in Turn Seven, and lost everything there. It was my fault completely. Without that it would have been a good lap, at least four-tenths faster. I´m not so happy with myself, but I know that I have a good car for the race, and that the tyres are pretty consistent, and I will be pushing very hard tomorrow."

Fisichella sounded more upbeat than his teammate despite his own lackluster performance in final qualifying. "I am pretty pleased with the way things went today, because we achieved our target. We have a good race strategy with some good possibilities, and we know that the tyre performance is consistent, so if things go our way I believe that I can score some points."

Peter Sauber remains the eternal optimist for tomorrow's race. "Giancarlo fully exploited the potential of the car this afternoon, and starting from 12th place he can achieve something tomorrow. Felipe had similar potential and without his mid-sector mistake would have been at the same level as Giancarlo, as he had been in all the practice sessions."

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