 Heidfeld Happy with Hard-Earned Point Sunday July 7th, 2002
Heidfeld, who had last finished in the points at the Spanish Grand Prix back at the end of May, battled hard throughout the race in difficult conditions at the Silverstone circuit to give his Swiss squad their tenth point of the season. "For some reason my first set of grooved tyres didn't come up to full temperature in the early laps," explained Heidfeld. "As a result I had understeer and the car was weak under braking, so I lost a lot of places. "It was better on intermediates when the track was at its wettest, and in my second stop I got another set of the them. By the end they were almost finished, but the car was good and I was able to push hard virtually until the last lap. I'm happy with a point for sixth place." Teammate Felipe Massa had an eventful race, spinning twice throughout the 60-lap event. The Brazilian rookie lost control of his Sauber at the start after running over the grass, but despite dropping back to end of the field, Massa recovered well to finish in ninth position. "At the start (Jacques) Villeneuve was really slow away and I had to go round him," said Massa. "Unfortunately I had to go on the grass and spun, but luckily I didn't hit anyone. The track was very slippery in the early laps, but I made up a lot of lost time by stopping sooner than most for intermediates, on lap 12. "I stayed with intermediates after my second stop on lap 30, but they lost their edge so I had to come in for grooved tyres 10 laps later. I was quicker than several people ahead of me after that, but I'd lost too much time to score a point."
Published at 14:44:28 GMT
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German Nick Heidfeld was happy to return to the points after a difficult British Grand Prix on Sunday, when the Sauber driver finished in sixth place in a chaotic race.
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