Rampf Praises Drivers for Silverstone Results
By Jamie Makin
July 14 2004
A significantly upgraded C23 gave team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers the weapon they needed to do battle for points in Silverstone. Giancarlo Fisichella charged through the field to convert a 19th place start to a 6th place finish. Teammate Felipe Massa struggled behind traffic could only manage 9th.
The team's Technical Director, Willy Rampf, took great delight in the team's efforts over the weekend. "I must admit that this race has given me a certain feeling of satisfaction," Rampf said. "For three days, almost everything had been going against us, and at the end of the day, we managed to score three Championship points anyhow and in a race that saw only one of the top drivers retiring."
The efforts are a credit to Fisichella's racing skills, but also to the team for selecting a good strategy to deal with some adverse conditions. In response to a required engine change on Friday, the team opted for a pit strategy that had served them well before. "Just like at the Nurburgring, we jointly decided that Giancarlo would start from the very rear with lots of fuel and new tyres," Rampf explained. "And I must say that he drove a fantastic race. Prior to his first pit stop, he was the quickest driver of the whole field, and thatīs really saying something!" It turned out that Fisichella had set the fifth quickest lap of the race.
With low attrition among the leaders, Fisichella had to work hard to pass for positions on the race track. He worked his way up to fifth place before his final pitstop when the safety car came out for Jarno Trulli's massive accident. "His race nearly went the way weīd expected it to," remarked Rampf. "Without the loss of air pressure in the engine, he would have even crossed the finish line ahead of Montoya."
SAUBER have successfully used the two-stop strategy to their advantage when speed was not on their side, but strategy can only take the team so far as Rampf explains. "One thing must be clearly said, though: Lack of speed can never be compensated for by strategy. The basis, without exception, is a fast car, and thatīs what Giancarlo had on Sunday." This fast car is the result of a series of upgrades put in place gradually since Imola in April. The race in Silverstone has shown that SAUBER no longer needs to rely on a high attrition rate or bad luck on the part of others to challenge for points regularly.
While Fisichella was undeniably the star of the race, what about his young teammate Felipe Massa? He showed a quick pace all weekend as well, but things went all wrong for him when Toyota's Olivier Panis blocked him during his qualifying run. The lost time sent his weekend into a tailspin from which he could not recover.
"Felipe had a highly frustrating race," bemoaned Rampf. "From the start, he was caught behind Webber. It was obvious that he could have driven faster, but overtaking is very difficult at Silverstone. Another frustrating experience, of course, was the fact that Felipe lost position nine on the grid to Webber due to the inattentiveness of another driver during qualifying." Panis was later penalized by officials and sent to the back of the grid for the start, but the damage done to Massa's race was irreparable.
Rampf still had to admit that the Brazilian had given it his best effort. "Felipe did a very good job as well last weekend that, unfortunately, was not rewarded."
Team SAUBER PETRONAS will again tweak some of the parts on the C23 for the next grand prix in Hockenheim in hopes of maintaining their newly found competitive speed.