Australian GP: Sauber Friday practice notes

Sauber Petronas drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa finished 11th and 13th respectively after today's first practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"It was quite a good day, and I did my best laps during a long run. The balance was getting better with each lap, and we know which direction to take to improve the car further for tomorrow. We also have a clear tyre choice. It's going to be difficult to get into the top 10, but we'll do our best."

Felipe Massa:

"This morning I lost all my track time when my car stopped early on with a fuel pressure problem, but this afternoon I did a long run and the balance was getting better and better as the track improved, and the Bridgestone tyres felt consistent. The car was very good, and I could easily have gone half a second faster, but towards the end I got traffic on each lap. I'm happy with what I achieved, though, especially given what happened this morning."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"We are happy with today's pure race preparation. We learned more about the C23 and we know what we can do to make it quicker tomorrow. We are satisfied with the performance in race trim and the Bridgestone tyre performance seems to be consistent, which is encouraging."

Driver (chassis)
Giancarlo Fisichella (C23-02)
1st Free Practice 1:29.120s, 15th
2nd Free Practice 1:26.601s, 11th

Felipe Massa (C23-03)
2nd Free Practice: No time
2nd Free Practice 1:26.969s, 13th
Spare (C23-01)

-sauber-