By Sauber-Petronas (21/3/2004)
March 21 2004

Team SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella finished eighth and 11th respectively in today´s PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang. Giancarlo Fisichella (Driver):

I had some moments in the first two corners after the start and lost a lot of places, so after that we decided to change our refuelling strategy slightly. Then unfortunately the engine stalled in the second stop and again in the third, so I lost even more time. The car wasn´t too bad in between all that.

Felipe Massa (Driver):

I had a bit of a clutch problem from the start of the race, which made all my pit stops a bit nerve-wracking. I also found it very difficult on the first lap out of the pits on new tyres. That´s why I had that moment in Turn 13 around lap 42 – I just couldn´t hold the steering wheel! I went right over the grass and luckily Michael managed to miss me. It was very difficult to try and catch the drivers in front, but in the end this was a really good result for us. I scored my first point here in 2002, so it´s good to come back and do the same two years later. This was very important for us, to score a point for PETRONAS.

Peter Sauber (Team Principal):

We all know that this is a very, very extreme race, for the engines, the tyres and especially for the drivers. I´m very happy that we scored a point with Felipe, and this is a fitting gift for all our friends in Malaysia.

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