Fisichella Encouraged by Sauber's Pace

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella was happy with the pace of his Sauber after finishing as tenth quickest in today's practice for the Canadian Grand Prix.

"I'm happy today," admitted Fisichella, who was encouraged by the smaller gap separating him from the top of the timesheets.

"We are much closer than normal to the red cars, having made some small but successful changes to the set-up after the morning session," he added. "The balance was getting better all the time, and though we still need to improve it a bit I'm quite pleased and am feeling quietly optimistic for qualifying and the race."

The Italian finished slightly over a second off the pace and managed to outpace his Sauber teammate Felipe Massa, 16th today.

"This morning I hit the wall hard in the last corner and needed to have some work done on the suspension," said Massa. "This afternoon I lost the edge from my set of new tyres, first of all because Ralf went off the track right in front of me, and then because I came across Davidson's crashed BAR under the yellow flags and had to slow down to avoid a penalty.

"Considering that, I'm really pleased how well the car went without the benefit of fresh tyres."