A quiet day for Sauber

Heidfeld finished 16 seconds behind Giancarlo Fisichella and a lap down on race winner Juan Pablo Montoya, while team-mate Frentzen slipped up at the exit of the Swimming Pool complex and clouted the barriers on the opening lap, bringing out the Safety Car while his broken car was moved to safety.

"I had a good run to the first corner and gained two positions," Heidfeld explained. "Then things went OK until after my first pit stop when I got stuck behind Jos Verstappen which cost me a lot of time. However, as all the top teams finished strongly, it was quite impossible to get into the points."

Team-mate Frentzen was bashful after his early exit from the race: "I simply made a mistake and went too fast into the new chicane. The car's undertray touched the kerb and the front tyres didn't have enough grip so I went into the barrier. It's a shame that my race had to finish this way as we were on a one-stop strategy. I live here and until the next Monaco Grand Prix I will be annoyed with myself every time that I pass this place..."

Team chief Peter Sauber was also upset that Frentzen's race had been so short: "That was a real shame, because Heinz-Harald had quite a lot of fuel on board and it would certainly have been interesting to see how this strategy would have paid off. Nick drove a rather discreet race, but I think that the startegy we chose for him was right. Getting stuck behind Verstappen after his first pit stop made him lose contact with Fisichella and da Matta, with whom he had been keeping up easily before then."