German GP Saturday Sauber notes

Jean Alesi:

Well, I really tried! I changed the set-up a little bit mid-way through the session this afternoon, to see if we could make the car better, but it was a couple of tenths slower. So for my lat run I went back to the same downforce I started with and the car felt happier that way. It then was a matter of tryiong to do a lap with zero mistakes. That's very difficult here, especially when you are jumping over the kerbs and you don't know how the car will land. My last lap was a good one; I'm not really sure whether it was possible to improve on it.

Johnny Herbert:

This morning I had a major problem with my car after the gearbox electronics malfunctioned, and in turn damaged the box itself. I missed the majority of the session, and it's always difficult when that happens because you just don't have the time in qualifying to try to improve your set-up.

This afternoon was therefore very difficult. The car still felt bad because of the lost set-up time. It was oversteering, and giving me little feedback. I didn't really feel in contact with the ground a lot of the time, and we never seemed to find a decent set-up in the time available.

Peter Sauber:

To be honest we expected to be higher up the grid, having achieved our target lap times.

Weather:

Overcast but warm.