By Jamie Makin
May 27 2005

Although the SAUBER PETRONAS team focused on race setup in today's practices sessions for the European Grand Prix, the drivers still feel that more setup work is needed. The air and track temperatures at the circuit in the Eiffel Mountains were much higher than average, which perhaps impacted the team's understanding of their tyres and setup. There were also many more yellow flags than usual disrupting a number of timed runs.

Felipe Massa fared the best of the two drivers, achieving 18th in the second session but struggling with the car's balance. "My car felt okay on used tyres, but I spoiled my run on new ones. The balance wasn't so good, and as a result I made some mistakes," admitted the Brazilian. "I got Turn 10 wrong, and then braked too late for the chicane, locked the front tyres, and went straight on. We just need to do some more work on the set-up, then I can push again tomorrow."

Jacques Villeneuve placed his C24 19th in the day's second session, which is certainly not what he hoped for. "Felipe and I were working on different programmes today," Villeneuve explained. I was pretty happy with the balance of my car but I didn’t get a good lap on my new tyres. There was a yellow flag partway round, so I had to lift. Overall, it’s hard to say just where we are."

Despite the slow pace for the team, progress has been made as technical director Willy Rampf explains. "We concentrated on race set-up work all day. We have virtually made our tyre selection. It was not a foregone conclusion, and we will confirm it going through the data this afternoon. We will also be looking for ways to improve for tomorrow."

The team will have two 45-minute practice sessions tomorrow morning to work things out before heading for the all-important qualifying session. A change agreed on by the teams after the Monaco GP sees Sunday morning qualifying scrapped, so drivers will have just one chance tomorrow to secure their grid positions.

Friday, Free Practice 1:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	14	1:35.716 (+4.046)	9
F. Massa	C24-02	12	1:35.142 (+3.472)	8
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-

Friday, Free Practice 2:

Driver	Chassis	Position	Best Time	Laps
J. Villeneuve	C24-04	19	1:34.645 (+4.022)	22
F. Massa	C24-02	18	1:34.274 (+3.651)	26
Spare Car	C24-03	-	-	-