Sauber wanted more from troubled race

The race had looked highly promising for the Swiss team, with Nick Heidfeld running in third position during the early stages of the race. However, problems struck on the German drivers first pit-stop, when fuel evaporation caused the Petronas engine to stall. To avoid the problem on his second pit-stop, Heidfeld opted to make a manual start, costing him further time. He eventually finished in eighth.

"When I selected first gear during my first pit stop the engine stalled, which cost me a lot of time," said Heidfeld. "When I made my second one, I wasn't sure if the problem had been fixed, so I opted to make a manual start. Overall, the car was reasonable today, and at least I scored a point."

Team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen also experienced a variety of problems. His car wouldn't select first gear on the grid, causing him to have a very slow start. He then suffered a similar problem to Heidfeld on his first pit stop and came home in ninth.

Team boss Peter Sauber was disappointed with the final result. "Honestly, we had expected more points today, especially here in front of our partner Petronas and our loyal Malaysian fans. Unfortunately the race started with Heinz-Harald´s problem, and then both engines cut out in the first stops due to fuel evaporation. Luckily we were able to solve that for the second stops and to secure eighth and ninth places and another championship point."