By Jamie Makin
August 28 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix from fifth and eighth positions respectively after this afternoon’s qualifying sessions. This is the team’s best qualifying result of the season. Saturday, Qualifying 1:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:56.068	5
F. Massa	C23-01	1:56.057	4
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

Saturday, Qualifying 2:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:58.040	5
F. Massa	C23-01	1:59.008	8
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

Torrential rains hit the Spa-Francorchamps circuit today cancelling most of practice but helping SAUBER PETRONAS drivers achieve their best qualifying results of the season. The entire morning practice session was cancelled due to dense fog and the second session was only run for a small portion of the scheduled time. Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa were able to make the most of harsh conditions running 4th and 6th respectively in the shortened session.

Helped by the competitive Bridgestone rain tyres, Fisichella finished 5th in pre-qualifying with Massa just edging him out for 4th place. Only the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen split the SAUBERS from the Ferraris. The second session looked all that much more promising for the SAUBER drivers until the rain became heavier in the later part of the session. Despite the adverse conditions Massa qualified 8th and Fisichella edge out the Ferrari of Rubens Barrichello to start 5th. This is the first time this season that both SAUBERS will start in the top ten.

Fisichella's previous best qualifying effort came in the last race at the Hungaroring where he put his SAUBER 8th on the grid and brought it home in the same position. He is now in a strong position to fight for points in tomorrow's race. "Given that the rain spoiled our chances of a really high grid placing today, I think fifth is a very strong performance," said the Roman. "But I feel unlucky that just before I went out we had to switch from wets to extreme wets as the rain increased. That cost us performance, for sure. In the dry yesterday we were very strong, however, so I am optimistic for the race as the forecast predicts a dry day tomorrow."

Massa breaks into the top ten for the first time this season with a great performance in difficult conditions. "Between Juan Pablo Montoya and our runs the track got much wetter, so we were rather unlucky today. By the time I went out for my qualifying lap the track was completely wet and I got lots of wheelspin whenever I encountered any white lines," the Brazilian explained. "But I am quite happy in such extraordinary circumstances with eighth place, because I know that we have a good set-up, wet or dry, for the race tomorrow. It’s good that both cars are comfortably in the top 10, and I’m really looking forward to scoring some points."

SAUBER PETRONAS have scored points at just over half of the races this season but have yet to have both cars score in the same race. Today's qualifying results put them in a good position to aim for that tomorrow in the expected dry conditions. Team boss Peter Sauber will be hoping for just that. "It was a very strong qualifying session for us. Congratulations to Giancarlo and Felipe, and to the team for developing such a strong car," praised Sauber. "Thanks, too, to Bridgestone for their tyres. We actually had bad luck, however, as the rain worsened just before Giancarlo and Felipe went out. I believe that each of them will start a row further back than they really deserve to. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to a strong race performance whatever the conditions."

Should tomorrow's weather turn out to be dry, the teams will be allowed to make some changes prior to the start of the race. They can fit dry weather tyres and change brake ducts and radiator inlet configuration. With the grid as scrambled as it is, it looks like an exciting race is in store. The SAUBER team will be hoping they have an optimal setup to allow them to stay ahead of their rivals.

Saturday, Free Practice 3:

Session cancelled due to fog.

Saturday, Free Practice 4:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-04	1:58.138	4
F. Massa	C23-01	1:58.864	6
Spare Car	C23-02	-	-

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