Benetton Unable to Realise Potential

The Benetton team were unable to realise the potential showed on Friday during practice and continue to struggle at the back of the grid after a difficult qualifying for the German Grand Prix.

Giancarlo Fisichella, who on Friday posted a promising eleventh quickest time for the struggling Renault-owned outfit, was unable to put a similar performance on Saturday and had to settle for 17th place, his hopes of scoring any points receiving a hard blow.

"Today has been very difficult compared to yesterday," Fisichella admitted. "I had an engine change after this morning's free practice and had to go straight into qualifying with a race engine. On my fourth and final qualifying lap I was a couple of tenths up, but one of the Saubers was going slowly ahead and held me up. But for that, I think I might have been a couple of places higher up the grid."

Jenson Button could not complete a single lap this morning due to a gearbox problem, and his luck did not improve during qualifying, as he was forced to stop with an engine failure during the hour-long session. The Brit was 18th fastest.

"Everything looked so much better yesterday, but we were unable to realise our potential for a variety of reasons," Button said. "I stopped on my first lap this morning with gearbox trouble and that set the scene for a tough day.

"Racing can be like that sometimes. When it happens you just have to accept it and concentrate on doing better tomorrow."