Delighted Heidfeld Sorry to Miss Out on Fifth Place

German Nick Heidfeld completed another brilliant performance at the wheel of the Sauber on Saturday to equal his best result in qualifying at the Indianapolis circuit, but he claimed he could have done better.

Heidfeld, who had already qualified in sixth place at the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this season, was able to get the best out of the powerful Ferrari engine in his C20 to qualify on the third row of the grid, right behind Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello.

The 24-year old German was delighted with his performance, but claimed he could have qualified even further had it not been for the yellow flags during his final attempt.

"The car has been really good all weekend, and third place this morning was great," said Heidfeld. "I wasn't sure that I'd be able to hold on to that this afternoon but you never know because sometimes people make mistakes on their quick laps.

"Unfortunately I had to brake early in the second sector on my fastest lap because of Enge's crash. Without that I'm sure I could have been one place higher. But I am really, really happy with sixth."

Finn Kimi Raikkonen was unable to match his teammate's pace at the Indianapolis circuit, the future McLaren driver having to settle for eleventh position almost four tenths of a second behind Heidfeld. The 21-year old was disappointed with his effort.

"All through today I've been struggling to get a perfect balance on my car, and even though we tried lots of little things all through qualifying it just wasn't quite there," said Raikkonen. "It's disappointing, given Nick's strong performance."