Heidfeld Remains Calm Despite Low Position

German Nick Heidfeld remained calm after Friday's free practice for the Canadian Grand Prix despite finishing the day in 14th position nearly two seconds off the pace.

The Sauber driver and his team concentrated on set-up work for Sunday's race, running with high loads of fuel to test the brakes of the Petronas-powered machine ahead of a Grand Prix that is usually very hard for the cars.

Heidfeld was pleased with his work, and claimed the times were not important today.

"The positions don't look so good, but we were doing a lot of work for the race and for sure we are in a lot better shape than we were in Monaco," said Heidfeld. "We did a lot of long runs and I'm quite happy with what we achieved. Today was not about lap times."

Brazilian Felipe Massa was 16th quickest in the second Sauber, the young rookie making his debut at the Canadian circuit. Despite some mistakes, Massa was confident ahead of Saturday's qualifying.

"It was okay for a first day," said Massa. "This is a nice track, no problem to learn. It was still pretty dirty, however, and on old tyres my car was quite nervous and I made a few mistakes. But for sure the track will be a lot better tomorrow, and I'm confident we will be competitive."