By Jamie Makin
May 7 2005

Felipe Massa secured 11th place in the first round of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix while teammate Jacques Villeneuve struggled and could only get to 14th place. The problem for Villeneuve seemed rooted in his tyre choice where he failed to give him the grip he needed on the repaved circuit in Barcelona. "The balance of the car was not too bad this afternoon, so really I expected to be faster," rued the disappointed Canadian. "Sometimes this season it's been a problem for me getting the best out of the tyres over a single lap, but the gap was quite big today. The car felt okay but that grip situation seemed to be a little bit extreme here, so I'm mystified."

Massa looks poised for a top ten start, as Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld both made engine changes and will drop behind him in the starting order. Another solid lap tomorrow will give Massa a good shot at scoring points.

"I had a good lap and the balance was okay, a bit of understeer here and some oversteer there, probably because of the wind, but nothing too bad," said Massa. "With a similar performance in tomorrow’s final qualifying I think we can do a good job in the race."

Team boss Peter Sauber seemed a bit disappointed with the results. "After the significant improvement we made in Imola we expected more here," he said. "But Felipe has the potential to start the race in the first five rows so therefore it should be possible to score more points."

Saturday, Qualifying 1:

s

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	1:16.794 (+1.999)	14
F. Massa	C24-06	1:15.863 (+1.068)	11
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-

Saturday, Free Practice 3:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	15	1:18.686 (+3.081)	6
F. Massa	C24-06	13	1:18.209 (+2.604)	7
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-

Saturday, Free Practice 4:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	12	1:16.291 (+2.011)
F. Massa	C24-06	14	1:15.511 (+1.231)
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-