19 May: Monaco Grand Prix - Thursday Practice Report - Sauber
Weather: sunny and warm.
Drivers (Chassis) Villeneuve (C24-04) Massa (C24-06) Spare car (C24-03)
SAUBER
PETRONAS drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve finished eighth and 14th respectively after today's first practice sessions for
the Monaco Grand Prix.
Jacques Villeneuve: "A lot depends here on when you put the new tyres on the car. The
track is always dirty at the beginning of a session and the first and last laps you do can vary by as much as four seconds. I was
quite happy with the car today. We are in much better shape than we were in Barcelona. I tried to keep my set-up consistent and let
the track improve, and I'm okay with what we did this afternoon. Our long run was acceptable. Now we just have to make sure that we
make the right tyre choice for Saturday."
Felipe Massa: "The car was getting better and better with every
run, but on the last the rear end felt a bit soft and the right front tyre was quite lightly loaded. I know I didn't make a mistake
at Ste Devote, but when I braked hard there the right front wheel locked, the car went sideways, and then I crashed into the tyre
wall. I'm fine, but I'm not sure what happened. On the positive side, I'm feeling very confident for the rest of the weekend after
the way the car went this afternoon."
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "Felipe said that the rear end of
the car felt a little strange before the right front wheel locked up under braking and he went off in the first corner. We will
carry out a full investigation to analyse the cause of the incident and the extent of the damage. It was a great shame, because both
Felipe and Jacques made satisfactory progress thanks to a good step we made with Felipe's set-up between morning practice and this
afternoon's session."
