British GP: Sauber Saturday qualifying notes

Team Sauber Petronas drivers Jacques Villeneuve and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow's British Grand Prix from 10th and 16th positions respectively after this afternoon's qualifying session.

Jacques Villeneuve:

"Maybe I didn't get the tyres quite up to temperature on my out lap, but I lost a bit of grip in Copse. After that though the rest of my quick lap was good and I'm happy with it. The new aerodynamics are working well and I had none of the understeer I had yesterday. That allowed me to drive the car hard, the way I like to, so it was a good qualifying today."

Felipe Massa:

"I knew that the track would not be at its best as I had to go out second, so we tailored my strategy accordingly. With that in mind I'm quite happy with what I did this afternoon. The lap time may not look great, but I'm confident for the race. The car is very good on long runs, and the new aero package is a step forward."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"Jacques lost a little bit in the first sector, but the second and third sectors were good. We put Felipe on a strategy that was suitable for his starting position for qualifying, as we knew that the track would not be at its peak in terms of grip."

"Our target was to qualify in the top 10 and we achieved that, and though it is early days with it, the performance of our new aerodynamic package has been encouraging."

Jacques Villeneuve
Chassis: C24-04
1:21.352s, 10th

Felipe Massa
Chassis: C24-06
1:22.495s, 16th

-sauber-