San Marino GP: Sauber Saturday qualifying notes

Team Sauber Petronas drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella will start tomorrow's San Marino Grand Prix from 12th and 19th places respectively after this afternoon's qualifying sessions.

Giancarlo Fisichella:

"I'm really disappointed. We made progress with the car today and it was better balanced than yesterday and slightly better on the first lap on new tyres. In pre-qualifying I thought I did a very good lap, but on my in lap I felt a problem with third gear. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time to change it before qualifying, so here I am at the back of the grid. It's my home race, and I knew it will be very tough starting that far back..."

Felipe Massa:

"I was happier with the car today. I made a mistake in pre-qualifying, otherwise my lap would have been better, but everything went well for me in qualifying and given the strategy we have chosen I am satisfied with my performance this afternoon. Our car will be more competitive in the race."

Peter Sauber (Team Principal):

"We are pleased that Felipe got everything out of the car in the configuration in which we chose to run it today. Unfortunately, Giancarlo's gearbox broke after pre-qualifying so he was unable to exploit the progress we have made on set-up this morning."

Driver (Chassis)
Giancarlo Fisichella (C23-04)
No time

Felipe Massa (C23-03)
1:21.532s, 12th
Spare (C23-01)

-sauber-