By Jamie Makin
July 24 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow’s German Grand Prix from 14th and 15th positions respectively after this afternoon’s qualifying sessions. Saturday, Qualifying 1:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:13.914	10
F. Massa	C23-01	1:13.899	9
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

Saturday, Qualifying 2:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:15.394	14
F. Massa	C23-01	1:15.616	16
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

After a shaky start in Friday practice, team SAUBER PETRONAS has come to life on Saturday. The first round qualifying performances of Felipe Massa in 9th place and Giancarlo Fisichella in 10th put them just ahead of the Ferraris for the session. Michael Schumacher went on to claim pole position, but the Saubers slipped towards the rear of the grid in the final session.

The team is still delighted with the outcome of qualifying when taking their race strategy into consideration. It is clear they will employ their highly successfully two-stop strategy in hopes of securing additional championship points.

"Our qualifying positions are what we expected with the fuel load we were carrying, but it’s important that one of the Toyotas will start behind us," Fisichella said. His point about the Toyota is an important one. Toyota introduced a new "B Spec" car for this race and Sauber views Toyota and Jaguar as their primary rivals this season. "It will also be important to get by the Jaguars as soon as possible tomorrow, then get on with our race," Fisichella continued.

"We know that our tyres are very good in race conditions, and I was very pleased with the balance, and in particular the stability of the car under braking, today. It was much better than yesterday. With all that in mind, we have the potential to repeat the result we had at Silverstone so I am feeling relaxed and optimistic." Fisichella drove a strong race in Silverstone to go from 19th on the grid to 6th place at the finish.

Felipe Massa has matched or beaten Fisichella's pace all weekend and shares his teammate's optimism for the race. "I think I drove a good lap this afternoon," Massa said, referring to his qualifying run. "The balance was good and everything went according to our strategy. Usually if you see P16 it is very bad but in our case appearances are deceptive and we will be strong tomorrow. It’s difficult to overtake here but not impossible, so we have a great chance to be in the points." This is only Massa second visit to the Hockenheimring. He finished a strong 7th place in the 2002 race for Sauber, but at the time points were only paid back to 6th place. Massa will be looking to equal or beat that result in tomorrow's race.

Peter Sauber had kind words for his drivers and his team following the qualifying session. "Both drivers achieved their target lap times, so everything this afternoon proceeded in accordance with our strategy. We are very happy with the well-balanced performances of Giancarlo and Felipe, and are well prepared for the race."

SAUBER maintain a 10 point lead over Toyota and a 14 point lead over Jaguar and hope to enlarge that gap tomorrow in their quest for 6th in the Constructors Championship.

Saturday, Free Practice 3:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:16.232	9
F. Massa	C23-01	1:16.532	13
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

Saturday, Free Practice 4:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:15.572	14
F. Massa	C23-01	1:15.588	15
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

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