Sauber Hit By Rain and Spins at Mugello - Day Four

Sauber continued their testing at the Mugello circuit today, albeit heavy rain slowing down the team's progress.

On their second day, Felipe Massa set the quicker time in 1:24.984 over 72 laps, but Nick Heidfeld spun on his 53rd lap and damaged his car after posting a best lap of 1:25.119. Following that, only Massa will complete the test tomorrow as a result.

"Our original plan had been for Nick to focus on more aerodynamic assessment work today and for Felipe to go for another race run, but with the poor weather at the start of the day we changed our programme," revealed Willy Rampf, Sauber's Technical Director.

"This morning Nick did three back-to-back comparisons with different types of Bridgestone wet weather tyre, and also had a run on intermediates. The conditions improved a lot this afternoon, but unfortunately, following Nick's accident we have decided to send his C21 back to Hinwil for repairs in time for Melbourne, so only Felipe will run tomorrow."

Nick Heidfeld further commented, stating: "The weather was dreadful this morning, but at least it gave us a good opportunity to do the tyre comparison work. The car was handling very well even though we didn't do anything special to tune it for the conditions. I was really hoping for good conditions so that we could do the final preparations for Melbourne, but when the car oversteered in Turn Six this afternoon I didn't catch it in time and spun. I'm very disappointed."

At the same time, teammate Massa said he's very pleased with his own work progress. "I'm glad that the weather improved this afternoon, so that I was able to complete my third Grand Prix distance," the Brazilian said. "The car was working well, and I gained further valuable experience which will be a big help when I get to Melbourne."