No Points for Sauber, but None for Rivals Either

By Jamie Makin
July 4 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa finished 12th and 13th respectively in today´s French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours.

Team SAUBER PETRONAS anticipated a difficult race at the Circuit de Nevers in Central France, and unfortunately that's what they got. Despite having new aerodynamic components, they struggled with wear on their Bridgestone tyres. The team seized a chance out of the bad situation to experiment with different pit strategies for the two drivers.

"It was a difficult race for us, as we expected," said Giancarlo Fisichella. "Our original strategy was to run two stops, but then we decided to go to three as our pace was not fast enough and we were struggling for rear-end grip. After that it was better, but now let´s look forward to Silverstone, where we will get the next batch of our new aerodynamic components and be able to fight harder."

Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa stood behind the team's decisions. "Looking at the last two races we figured it might be better for me to stay with a two-stop race here, and I think it was a good idea to try both strategies by switching Giancarlo to three. The tyre degradation is so high here that I had a really tough afternoon. It was a real struggle for me all the way through."

The team can take solace in the fact that both cars finished without any technical problems, and main rivals Toyota and Jaguar did not gain any ground in the points either. Sauber was slower than the leaping cats, but easily beat both Toyotas in race conditions.

Team Principal, Peter Sauber is now looking forward to the British Grand Prix in a week's time, where conditions should be more favorable for the small Swiss team. "Magny-Cours: a difficult race and no points for us, but none for our direct competitors either. Have a safe journey home and see you next week at Silverstone!"

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