Salo 'should have been on the podium'
Mika Salo may have been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix but he insisted the omens were good for the Sauber team
Before the disqualification was known and he was deprived of sixth place he had insisted: "I should have been on the podium."
The flying Finn, who picked up the last points place, said: "The car felt fantastic.
"With a little more luck and a little less traffic I know I could easily have finished third today.
"I am happy with my point but I feel a little disappointed because we could have finished with much more.
"Jacques Villeneuve held me up early on, costing me a full second a lap and then I had a similar time stuck behind Ricardo Zonta.
"Once I passed him I took a second off Giancarlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve in one lap."
Sauber team-mate Pedro Diniz was forced out of the race on lap 43 with tranmission problems.
Earlier, the 29-year-old Brazilian had to make an unscheduled pit-stop to change his car's damaged nose after being squeezed onto the gravel on the second lap.
Diniz said: "With the new nose, the car felt much better and my times were competitive until the transmission problem ended my race."
The solitary point was a huge boost for the team, who only managed a total of five all last season.
And team boss Peter Sauber declared: "Of course I am happy with the point, but Mika deserved much more today.
"He lost a lot of time behind other drivers. But if we are slightly disappointed with the result we can take heart from the potential of the new car."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments