Massa Dissapointed with Flying Lap

"I'm disappointed with my lap," said Massa after posting the ninth quickest time.

"Compared to this morning the balance of the car was not quite so good, and that lost me some crucial time not just in the Senna S.

"I had understeer there, and in Turn Nine I had understeer again which suddenly became snap oversteer on the exit. I think I lost a couple of places as a result.

"But we have good race pace and I am still starting in the top 10 so it's not too bad, but I had hoped for more today."

Massa will start from eighth position following a penalty to Jarno Trulli for changing the engine of his Toyota.

Teammate Jacques Villeneuve completed a promising performance by the Sauber team after setting the 12th quickest time.

"Considering the strategy we have chosen for the race, I'm really happy with my lap this afternoon. It was clean and quick," said the Canadian, who admitted he was worried about the lack of straight-line speed.

"The only concern is that my car seems to be some way down on straight-line speed compared to Felipe's, which is odd since we had a similar aero set-up. We need to check the data to see if there is anything amiss on the car."