Sauber Drivers Rue Driving Errors

Sauber's Felipe Massa lamented a driving error at the start of his qualifying lap for tomorrow's Italian Grand Prix.

Massa overshot the first chicane and lost nearly a second. Although the remaining part of his flying lap was trouble-free, the young Brazilian paid the price for his error and finished down in a disappointing 16th position on the grid.

"There was a big difference in the balance of my car between its pre-qualifying configuration and the qualifying set-up, and this caught me out a little under braking for the first part of the first chicane," said the Brazilian after qualifying.

"I locked the rear wheels a little and ran in wide, so after that the lap was ruined. It's a pity because the rest of it was very good. I probably lost two, maybe three, positions. Now I just have to exploit the car's strong race form as much as I can."

Massa was outqualified by his teammate Giancarlo Fisichella, although the Italian also made a mistake that cost him some valuable time. He wound up 15th in what proved to be a poor day for Sauber.

"My lap was not so good," said Fisichella. "Obviously we had a fair amount of fuel, but while the first sector was very good I was too conservative in the second and then braked too late for Parabolica and got into a lot of understeer.

"That cost me at least three-tenths. We are, however, optimistic for the race because we know how consistent the car is on long runs."