Massa Expecting Tough Qualifying for Sauber

Brazilian Felipe Massa is expecting to struggle in tomorrow's qualifying for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

The Sauber team have proved quick in race trim, but with a problem to extract the best from the tyres over a single lap they have struggle in qualifying in recent races. Massa, 16th quickest in today's practice, has predicted another tough day tomorrow.

"It was a good day for me," said Massa. "We focused on long runs and my first impression is that things are better than I expected. The tyre choice is not straightforward, but our race pace today was good. Qualifying, however, will be difficult for us."

Italian Giancarlo Fisichella finished 17th quickest after struggling with the balance of his Petronas-powered car.

"The balance of the car was still not good this afternoon," said the Italian. "I had oversteer going into the hairpin which turned to understeer at the midpoint. It wasn't so bad in the higher-speed corners, but we still have work to do to improve things."