By Phil Huff (18/05/2003)
May 18 2003

Team Sauber Petronas driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was unable to start today's Austrian Grand Prix due to a clutch problem. Nick Heidfeld ran competitively, but was forced to retire with an engine problem after 46 laps. After qualifying an impressive fourth, although light on fuel, Nick Heidfeld was forced out of the race after 46 laps.

"I am very disappointed, of course," commented Nick, "I came into the pits later than many people expected and other drivers did their first pit stop at a similar time. So it looked quite good for us and I was sure we would have been able to score points today. Then the engine began to lose power and I began to drop back. It is particularly frustrating for me as I have been forced to retire in three races already this season!"

Things weren't any better for Heinz-Harald Frentzen, as he failed to even ake the start.

"Just before the second restart I realised that I had a clutch problem and was not able to start the engine," explained Frentzen, "What exactly happened must await analysis. I tried to switch to the T-car, but it was set up for Nick and we ran out of time so I was not able to start the race. That's life."

Peter Sauber, the Swiss teams' Principal, added "We went into this race convinced that we could score points. Unfortunately Heinz-Harald experienced a clutch problem before the eventual start and could not participate. Nick proved by his fourth-place starting position how well he can perform, and drove strongly until the first pit stop. Unfortunately, however, the engine had begun to lose power after 20 laps and got progressively worse until he had to retire on lap 46. Once again a good performance went unrewarded."