Brazilian GP Friday Sauber notes

Free Practice on Friday

Interlagos, Friday 24 March, 2000
Weather: Cloudy and humid.

Pedro Diniz:  C19-04 (1:19.081, 18th)

Mika Salo:  C19-02 (1:17.933, 12th)

Spare:  C19-01  

Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz concentrated on set-up work for the race during free practice today, finishing 12th and 18th overall. Pedro Diniz: I ran with a reasonable fuel load all day but this afternoon, for some reason that we are currently investigating, my car was down on the straightline speed I'd had this morning. Since the track was improving all day, I am sure I would have gone quicker without that little problem.

Mika Salo: The SAUBER PETRONAS C19 feels good round Interlagos, and I'm reasonably happy with the way things went for me today. My biggest problem is one I can't do anything about: the track surface. The bumps on the main straight are just unreal, and they really compromise the way you have to set the car up. But given that the circumstances are the same for everyone, I think we are okay.

Peter Sauber: Peter Sauber (Team Principal): With 39 and 38 laps respectively for Mika and Pedro, we have achieved a Grand Prix distance without any major problems today as we focused on set-up work for the race. Taking into account our tyres and the fuel loads we were running, I am happy with Mika's time. But it's important that we improve Pedro's set-up so that he can close the gap to Mika.