Frentzen snaps his throttle pedal

The German driver takes up the story: "I pressed so hard on the throttle pedal that I broke it! It happened as I was coming out of the Variante Alta at the top of the circuit, but I was able to complete my qualifying lap. Without that problem, I think I'd have been a couple of places higher, but we still have some analysis to do in preparation for qualifying tomorrow." His best time of 1m22.531s was still good for 10th place on the provisional grid.

Team-mate Nick Heidfeld ended the first qualifying session four places further down the order, in 14th, having lapped in 1m22.911s. "We made a lot of changes for qualifying," he reported, "and they improved the car significantly, but it took a bit of getting used to in one flying lap."

Team principal Peter Sauber reckoned that Frentzen would have gone four tenths of a second faster if he hadn't snapped the pedal, but was upbeat about their potential on Saturday, feeling that their Bridgestone tyres were working well.