By Jamie Makin
May 19 2005

Team SAUBER PETRONAS did not expect a lot in terms of performance for this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix but Felipe Massa's fast pace surprised them. The Brazilian was 8th quickest in the second practice session today, but ended that run with a hard crash at Ste Devote. It was the same place that he had crashed out of this race in 2002 and this time was also caused by a mechanical failure.

"The car was getting better and better with every run, but on the last the rear end felt a bit soft and the right front tyre was quite lightly loaded," explained Massa. "I know I didn't make a mistake at Ste Devote, but when I braked hard there the right front wheel locked, the car went sideways, and then I crashed into the tyre wall. I'm fine, but I'm not sure what happened. On the positive side, I'm feeling very confident for the rest of the weekend after the way the car went this afternoon."

The good news is Massa is unhurt and the car should be able to be repaired long before Saturday morning practice begins. The team will have to diagnose the problem so they can prevent it from reoccurring.

"Felipe said that the rear end of the car felt a little strange before the right front wheel locked up under braking and he went off in the first corner," explained technical director, Willy Rampf. "We will carry out a full investigation to analyse the cause of the incident and the extent of the damage. It was a great shame, because both Felipe and Jacques made satisfactory progress thanks to a good step we made with Felipe's set-up between morning practice and this afternoon's session."

Teammate Jacques Villeneuve was quicker than Massa in the first practice but fell behind in the second. He seemed satisfied with his day's work though, and is happy with the setup work on the car.

"A lot depends here on when you put the new tyres on the car. The track is always dirty at the beginning of a session and the first and last laps you do can vary by as much as four seconds," said Villeneuve. "I was quite happy with the car today. We are in much better shape than we were in Barcelona. I tried to keep my set-up consistent and let the track improve, and I’m okay with what we did this afternoon. Our long run was acceptable. Now we just have to make sure that we make the right tyre choice for Saturday."

There will be no on track action for Formula One on Friday but they will resume practice on Saturday morning and complete the first qualifying session later that afternoon.

Friday, Free Practice 1:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	14	1:19.755 (+2.603)	20
F. Massa	C24-06	16	1:20.180 (+3.028)	15
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-

Friday, Free Practice 2:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	14	1:17.506 (+1.671)	27
F. Massa	C24-06	8	1:16.914 (+1.079)	19
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-