By Jamie Makin
July 10 2004

SAUBER PETRONAS drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa finished 2nd and 10th respectively after today´s first practice sessions for the British Grand Prix. Friday, Free Practice 1:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-03	1:20.446	8
F. Massa	C23-01	1:20.430	7
Spare Car	C23-04	-	-

Thursday, Free Practice 2:

Driver	Chassis	Best Time	Position
G. Fisichella	C23-03	1:18.660	2
F. Massa	C23-01	1:19.676	10
Spare Car	C23-04	-	-

Last weekend's French Grand Prix saw team SAUBER PETRONAS off the pace for the entire three days and yielded no points for the second straight race. But they arrived at the Silverstone Circuit in England this weekend in high sprits with a significantly revised car in hopes of increasing their competitiveness.

The team began gradually implementing their innovative new cooling system at the Monaco Grand Prix in May. The implementation is now complete and heavily revised rear bodywork completes the package. Sporting a much lower profile and top-mounted grill, the difference in readily visible. An altered deck wing adds downforce and an airbox wing mounted behind the camera will smooth out airflow over the rear of the car. Providing additional horsepower is the "B" Spec Petronas 04A V10 engine, the first major upgrade for the team this season.

The effectiveness of the new parts were seen immediately as the SAUBER team put in what is by far their strongest Friday performance of the season. Massa and Fisichella placed an impressive 8th and 7th place respectively in the first free practice session in the morning. In the second session, Fisichella set an early first place and remained in the top six for most of the session. He put in a stunningly quick lap with just a minute and a half remaining in the session to jump him to 2nd place. His time fell a mere 0.005 seconds behind the McLaren of Kimi Raikkonen and a full half second ahead of Ferrari's Michael Shumacher. Teammate Felipe Massa put in a consistent performace to rank 10th. For most of the season, both SAUBER drivers have found themselves in the low teens on Friday sessions, so today's performance is a huge gain and bodes well for a great result in Sunday's race.

The only problem faced by the team on an otherwise stellar day was a rare engine failure from Fisichella's car in the first practice session. The mechanics were forced to change the engine and this will cost Fisichella ten grid positions from his qualifying result tomorrow. He remains hopeful of his chances for a good race in light of the fact that last year's chaotic race proved that overtaking is quite possible on the British circuit.

"I am very pleased, as we have taken a big step forward. The team has done a fantastic job, and if you look what we have achieved with the car since Melbourne it is excellent. This step here in Silverstone is probably the biggest of them all," beamed the veteran Italian driver. "The car is very well balanced and stable, and I was able to do a very good lap time. I am really, really optimistic, even though my engine problem this morning means that I will lose 10 grid places tomorrow afternoon. The same thing happened at Nurburgring, and we still scored points there, so I´m really looking forward to the race."

Felipe Massa claims to really enjoy driving the Silverstone Circuit despite having competed in only one Formula One race there in 2002. His sessions were trouble free and consistent today even though his pace was lagging slight behind Fisichella towards the end. "Honestly, I am very happy with my lap time," Massa insisted. "I used my new tyres early in the session to do a long run, so my lap was achieved on old rubber whereas Giancarlo used his new tyres at the end. The car is well balanced, very consistent and very stable, and I am feeling very optimistic. It is great to know we have such a competitive car."

Team Principal, Peter Sauber knows it is the hard work and devotion of each of the 300 members on his team who made today's result possible and he was quick to express his appreciation. "All our efforts of the past few weeks have paid off and we have taken a clear step forward with the new rear bodywork. Giancarlo´s excellent time is a thank-you to everybody in the team, particularly all the people working back in the factory at Hinwil who have contributed so much to this result." Bridgstone Motorsport, who were criticized by the team last weekend as being the weak link in the chain, have stepped up their efforts this weekend to provide a faster and more consistent tyre. They are confident they can help Sauber get their upgraded car into the points. "The Sauber pair look set to be a force to contend with this weekend," said a company spokesperson. The SAUBER PETRONAS drivers will have two more practice sessions tomorrow morning to fine tune their cars before the qualifying sessions in the afternoon. If today's pace continues into tomorrow, look for a very strong result from the team.

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