Sauber Petronas driver Giancarlo Fisichella finished this afternoon’s European Grand Prix at German’s Nurburgring in sixth place to secure another three valuable points for himself and the Swiss based squad, maintaining the team's fifth place in the World Championship for Constructors.
What makes this achievement even more astounding is the fact that the Italian driver actually started from the back of the grid due to an unplanned engine change after Friday’s opening practice and his planned two stop strategy definitely reaped the rewards they were looking for!
"After all the problems I had over the weekend it is wonderful to score points for sixth place! Our target was to score points, but I never believed that sixth was possible,” he said. “The car was fantastic today, the balance and behaviour were impeccable. I made a good start, our strategy was perfect, and we did a great job as a team. The C23 is improving with every race, so we will keep getting better and better."
Meanwhile, teammate Felipe Massa had a very disappointing afternoon when after starting ahead of Fisichella, he finished well behind, a lap down on the leaders in ninth place, just outside the points. Felipe encountered problems at the start, and he lost several positions as a result and damaged the front wing on his C23.
"When I let out the clutch at the start nothing happened, and I had to call for it again before I could get going. Running behind the Minardi’s after that ruined my race because I lost so much time,” he explained. “I'm not sure where I damaged my front wing - maybe when I was close to Bruni, maybe later with Klien - but after that I just had massive understeer and the car was really difficult to drive. A shame, because this was a race where I could have scored more points." "Our race went exactly as we planned. Starting at the back we gave Giancarlo a high fuel load for a long first stint, and because the Bridgestone tyres were so consistent today we were able to execute our chosen strategy,” added Willy Rampf, Technical Director. “Congratulations to Giancarlo, who drove a fast and consistent race to finish sixth on the lead lap, consolidating our fifth place in the constructors' championship. Felipe's race was hampered by a problem at the start, and then loss of downforce due to a damaged front wing, and his car was very difficult to drive."
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