San Marino: Encouraging Pace Despite Setback

By Jamie Makin
April 23 2005

SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve finished 11th and 12th respectively after today’s first practice sessions for the San Marino Grand Prix.

The good news for the team is they found a lot of pace from a substantially modified C24 aero package. Changes could be seen to the front and rear wings and those changes were rewarded by more competitive and consistent laptimes.

Jacques Villeneuve had to feel encouraged as his times edged much closer to Felipe Massa's. In both free practice sessions, he was within 0.200 seconds of his younger teammate.

"This weekend has started better for me than others this year, which is good," a delighted Villeneuve said. "The car seemed okay on new tyres, and now we need to make sure we can race it like this. It seems to be an improvement, which is encouraging."

Felipe Massa was equally enthused about the upgraded C24. "I’m very, very happy with the car," Massa exclaimed. "All the work the people back at the factory have done on the new aero package has worked out the way we hoped it would, and I think it is as big an improvement as the package we had at Silverstone on the C23 last year."

Silverstone last year was the turning point for the team and they scored two-thirds of the year's points in the latter half of the season. They also had a car capable of scoring on its own merits instead of hoping for the front-runners to drop out. If Massa's assessment of the C24 is on the mark, it means the team will likely be competitive at a much earlier point this year.

"The car was really good on my long runs, very fast and consistent. And on new tyres I had traffic so I know I can go quicker," continued Massa. But there was one unfortunate setback for the Brazilian. "The only problem is that we need to change my engine tonight," explained Massa. "It is going to be very tough starting far back here of all places, and even more so because I know we are competitive. But I remain very positive because of the progress we have made."

Team boss Peter Sauber has got to be breathing a sigh of relief at the team's strong performance today after being under fire from the press the past few weeks over issues with the car and with Villeneuve. The hard work at the factory and the efforts of the drivers on track could go a long way towards putting some of these issues to rest.

"The aerodynamic package we have brought here has borne out all the promise of improvement that it showed in the wind tunnel back in Hinwil," Peter Sauber said. "I believe that we have made an important step forward and we hope to reconfirm this tomorrow. Unfortunately we need to change the engine in Felipe’s car because it was running hot during the race in Bahrain and has shown signs of losing its edge. This is greatly disappointing, but on the other hand I am happy that Jacques was able to benefit from the improvements in the car."

The team will have two more practice sessions tomorrow before the first round of qualifying. Weather could add another dimension to this weekend's race as frequent rain showers are in the forecast.

Friday, Free Practice 1:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	15	1:24.255 (+3.195)	8
F. Massa	C24-06	14	1:24.175 (+3.115)	13
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-

Friday, Free Practice 2:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	12	1:22.955 (+2.017)	22
F. Massa	C24-06	11	1:22.791 (+2.307)	23
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-