Malaysian GP: Sauber race notes

Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen finished in eighth and ninth places respectively in today's Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix, adding a further point to Team Sauber Petronas' 2003 tally.

Nick Heidfeld:

"I made up one position at the start, and then several cars came together in Turn Two. I reacted quickly and was lucky that I was able to go down the inside of Schumacher and Trulli and avoid everything. For a while I was running third. Unfortunately, when I selected first gear during my first pit stop (on lap 13) the engine stalled, which cost me a lot of time. When I made my second one (on lap 34) I wasn't sure if the problem had been fixed, so I opted to make a manual start. Overall, the car was reasonable today, and at least I scored a point."

Heinz-Harald Frentzen:

"Right from the start I had a problem when I couldn't get first gear on the grid, so I was very slow away. At least I avoided the second corner melee. Then I lost more time when the engine cut out during my first pit stop (on lap 17), and after that I was just trying to catch up. It was not an easy race for us today, and we didn't get the best from the car. But I did pass Ralph Firman in Turn Three on the last lap."

Peter Sauber (Team Principal):

"Honestly, we had expected more points today, especially here in front of our partner Petronas and our loyal Malaysian fans. Unfortunately the race started with Heinz-Harald's problem, and then both engines cut out in the first stops due to fuel evaporation. Luckily we were able to solve that for the second stops and to secure eighth and ninth places and another championship point. Congratulations to our former driver Kimi Raikkonen, on his first Grand Prix victory."

Driver (Chassis)
Heidfeld (C22-01) 8th
Frentzen (C22-03) 9th
Spare (C22-02)

-sauber-