Sauber: Good Damage Limitation

Team boss Peter Sauber was happy none of the Swiss team's direct rivals scored any points at today's Belgian Grand Prix, a weekend which proved to be very disappointing for the Hinwil-based squad.

After struggling in qualifying, both Brazilian Felipe Massa and German Nick Heidfeld put on a stronger performance in the race. However, rookie Massa saw his hopes of a good result vanish on 38 when his Petronas engine gave up and Heidfeld failed to score any points.

"Three things are important for us today," said Sauber. "We had a top 10 finish. Our set-up was much better than it was on Friday and Saturday. And none of our immediate rivals scored points. In the circumstances it was good damage limitation, and we have learned something."

With neither Renault or Jordan managing to score any points, Sauber continued within striking distance of the French squad and four points ahead of the British outfit. Only Jordan's Takuma Sato made it to the end of the race, while Heidfeld went on to finish in tenth place.

"The car was better in the race than it was in qualifying, but I ran in so much traffic all the time that I never really got the chance to get the best from it," said the German. "Felipe passed me early on when we were running different fuel strategies, but by the second stops we were close again.

"Unfortunately, on the lap when I needed to go my fastest, just before my stop, I had to let Michael (Schumacher) lap me, so I lost a massive amount of time which prevented me getting past McNish. But it would have been incorrect to ignore all the waved blue flags."