Fisichella Charges to Sixth Place Finish
By Jamie Makin
July 11 2004
Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa finished sixth and ninth respectively in today´s British Grand Prix in Silverstone.
The team came to Silverstone armed with a number of new aerodynamic and engine upgrades for the weekend. Their pace in Friday practice was very quick, but a series of misfortunes befell the team as the weekend went on. An engine change for Giancarlo Fisichella meant he started the race from 19th position. Massa's qualifying run was blocked by the slow moving Toyota of Olivier Panis as he approached Abbey. Although Panis was penalized and sent to the back of the grid, it meant that Massa's best effort only put him in the 10th starting position.
On race day, everyone's worries were on the weather, but the rains never came. The start was without incident, and Fisichella had passed both Minardis even before the first turn. His charge through the field continued as the race went on. The team's usual 2-stop strategy boosted him into 5th place before the safety car came out following Trulli's massive accident. He pulled into the pits ahead of Montoya, but lost the position as the mechanics needed to top off his pneumatic system. When the race restarted he maintained sixth place with ease, hanging right on Montoya's tail and easily pulling away from the "B" Spec McLaren of David Coulthard. He finished on the lead lap, and earned himself and the team three more valuable championship points. SAUBER's nearest rivals, Toyota, failed to score today.
"I was so confident in my car today!" exclaimed Fisichella. "I knew that I had a very quick one and when I was running on my own it was fantastic. Early on I was able to overtake several cars that were carrying less fuel than I was. At the end I lost time in my final stop as the mechanics topped up my engine´s pneumatics, and without that I would easily have beaten Montoya. Honestly, the car is really good and I am very encouraged that we have made such a big step forward. Today I had the best car I have had all season, so thanks to the whole team."
In recent weeks, Fisichella has been rumoured to be in talks with Williams about a drive next year. Peter Sauber would love for him to stay and perhaps this weekend's performance will encourage him to think about it.
Felipe Massa showed steady pace in the race, but was hampered by traffic and setup problems which prevented him from moving forward. His 9th place finish kept him just out of the points, as he was never able to get around the Jaguar of Mark Webber. He did well on the restart though to hold off the charging Renault of Fernando Alonso.
"You know, I could be really disappointed because I had a car that should have scored points today, but I am also very happy because we have made such an improvement in its behaviour. It was very fast and consistent all race," Massa commented. "Then I had what I think was a software problem in my stop on lap 38, and initially I couldn´t get first gear. Towards the end when I was challenging Webber I deliberately dropped back a little and then really pushed him hard in the closing laps. My car was much faster than his, but overtaking is always very difficult here."
Team owner, Peter Sauber has been complimentary of the team all weekend on their remarkably improved pace, despite some setbacks. He shares his take on the weekend's events. "The whole weekend things went against us: first there was Giancarlo´s engine problem on Friday morning, then Felipe´s problem in qualifying, then Felipe being stuck all race behind the Jaguar, and Giancarlo´s engine losing air pressure. But to be able still to score three points with all these circumstances is a strong performance that is down to our new aerodynamic package, two very good drivers and very good tyres."
After handling a hectic schedule of six races in the last eight weekends, the Sauber team will get a much deserved break as they will not join the testing circuit next week. They will race again at the Hockenheimring in Germany in two weeks time before the entire Formula One community goes on their three week summer break. Things are looking up in the SAUBER camp and they will strive to maintain the same pace at the next race but with a little less bad luck along the way.