Spanish GP: Sauber Friday notes

Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld finished in ninth and 13th places respectively after today's first free practice sessions for the Spanish Grand Prix.

Nick Heidfeld:

"I wasn't very happy with my car this morning, but that was also partly because of the way the track was as well. During the break we changed a few things and the set-up was better this afternoon, but after 11 laps a radiator started leaking, and by the time that was replaced I only had time for three further laps. It's been frustrating losing that track time, but at least we are moving in the right direction on set-up."

Felipe Massa:

"I was pretty happy the way things went today. I got a good time in early this morning before the temperature really went up, and I improved a little this afternoon. For sure some of the people in front of me were on low fuel, so I'm feeling confident. The balance was good and so were the tyres. So far it's been a good way to celebrate my 21st birthday yesterday."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"I think there are some long faces along the pit lane today because the condition of the track has been very frustrating. Your first lap would be quick, but the second could be up to a second slower because the conditions changed so quickly. That's relatively normal here in the summer, but it meant hard work for the race engineers because they were continually chasing a moving set-up target. We are happy though, because we completed our race preparation programme even with Nick's radiator problem."

Weather: Sunny and hot.

Driver (Chassis)
Heidfeld (C21-06) 13th
Massa (C21-03) 9th
Spare: (C21-01)

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