After an intense three-day test last week done on setup work, Team SAUBER PETRONAS shifted their focus for the race on Sunday with drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve ended 13th and 15th respectively after today’s first practice sessions.

Aside from determining the right tire compound for tomorrow’s qualifying, the team also catered for contingencies such as the increase in temperature as well as focus on achieving a good race pace. With both drivers reporting good balance from the cars, the overall sentiment is quite positive within the camp.

Jacques Villeneuve said, “Today was not too bad. The hotter temperature helped the tyres to warm up faster which was good, and the balance was okay, but it’s too early for me to draw too many conclusions about our performance so far.”

Felipe Massa said, “It was a good day, I think. We did some reasonable runs, including one long one in which we could see that our race pace is good. There was more grip than there was at the test last week, because of the higher temperature, so I was happier with the balance. Our main thing was to focus on race performance, which is the most important thing at Monza.”

Technical Director Willy Rampf said, “We did all of our basic set-up work in the test here last week, so today was all about race preparation. We had to change the cooling configuration a little to cater for the warmer weather, but otherwise we achieved our programme and were able to assess both tyre options. Choosing the right one is not a completely clear decision, so we will be going through all the data carefully this afternoon.”