Malaysian GP: Sauber Friday practice notes

Sauber Petronas drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella finished seventh and 16th respectively after today's first practice sessions for the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"The balance of my car was getting better on the long runs this afternoon, but we still have to improve over short distances. We were changing things all the way through the second session, which helped, but there is a lot of work still to do before qualifying."

Felipe Massa:

"This morning my car was so nervous at high speed that it was incredibly difficult to drive. That's why I went into the gravel at one stage. We changed the set-up completely for this afternoon and immediately it was much better. The track was getting better all through and we did our tyre comparison without any problem, so I'm pretty happy with things so far. We can still work on the set-up, but we have made a reasonable start to the weekend."

Peter Sauber (Team principal):

"The Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix is our home race, so first of all I would like to extend a warm welcome to the Malaysian people. We have had two productive sessions today which have given us a lot of valuable data, especially in our tyre choice which is particularly important at the Sepang track."

Driver (Chassis)
Giancarlo Fisichella (C23-02)
First practice: 1:37.995s, 14th
Second practice: 1:36.353s, 16th

Felipe Massa (C23-03)
First practice: 1:42.718s, 24th
Second practice: 1:35.288s, 7th
Spare (C23-01)

-sauber-