San Marino: Mixed Results for Final Qualifying

By Jamie Makin
April 24 2005

Felipe Massa's lap in the second round of qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix dropped him one spot to 8th. That would still have been his best start of the season but a ten-spot penalty for changing his engine will drop him to the next to the last row on the grid.

"The car was every bit as good as it was yesterday and I had a good lap, apart from sliding past the apex in the second Rivazza when I got off the dry line. Maybe I lost three-tenths there," Massa explained. "It's academic, though, thanks to my engine change penalty which turns eighth fastest time in the session and eighth on the grid into 18th. But we have a very good car, so let's see what we can do this afternoon."

On the brighter side. Jacques Villeneuve put in the sixth fastest lap of today's final qualifying session to improve his qualifying result from 13th to 12th. But he will actually start the race in 11th due to Massa's misfortune.

"I'm quite happy," said the veteran driver. Today what was important was to keep position as the track drying every lap. The car was quite performant with the fuel load we chose. The rear was sliding a bit, but that's the way we set it up. Overall I was satisfied with the lap and 12th fastest aggregate time."

Upgrades to the C24 have given the drivers more confidence as their pace becomes more competitive. The team has a good shot at points today as a result.

Sunday, Qualifying 2 (Aggregate Times):

s

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	2:46.259 (+3.379)	12
F. Massa	C24-06	2:44.930 (+2.050)	8
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-