Sauber laments eventful weekend

Prior to qualifying, the team's mechanics had to perform their second set of major repairs in 24 hours, following stand-in driver Pedro de la Rosa's hefty accident at Turn 4, the same spot team-mate Kamui Kobayashi had crashed at on Friday.

Kobayashi then came perilously close to inflicting more damage on his car, power-sliding within millimetres of the Wall of Champions as he exited the final chicane on his last lap.

"It is a difficult weekend for us," the Japanese driver observed after qualifying 13th for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix. "After I crashed yesterday the team had to build up the spare chassis for me.

"I have an overall lack of grip and find it really tricky to get to the limit with the car. Nevertheless today the balance of the car improved a bit. I could have gone a few tenths quicker on my last flying lap."

De la Rosa, continuing his short-course in learning the new Sauber after only joining the team ahead of second practice, was satisfied with reaching the second session and qualifying 17th.

"Yesterday morning I didn't expect to sit in a racing car, and this morning I actually didn't expect a lot from qualifying," he said. "It is not easy to familiarise yourself with the car and all the new buttons in such a short space of time. I'm quite pleased with the outcome of qualifying and I'm optimistic for the race."

The Spaniard, like his new team-mate, was left ruing his own mistake this morning.

"Of course, the crash I had this morning didn't help either. I lost the car and then also a bit of confidence goes. I am very happy the team managed to repair the car and I want to thank them," he added.

Team bosses Peter Sauber and James Key, however, were in more positive moods following qualifying.

"Kamui finished qualifying in P13, and that's the same position he had in Monaco where he was able to deliver a great result," said team principle Sauber. "Considering Pedro only learned yesterday after one o'clock that he was going to race this weekend, he did an excellent job making it into Q2."

Technical director Key added that he thought the team had got about as much out of the car as they could, saying Sauber were "not a hundred percent satisfied, but under the circumstances it's still okay where we are. The race is a totally different story."