Jean Alesi:
Today our car was competitive enough to have finished strongly in the points. I think I overtook 11 other cars! The spin on the second lap was my mistake, but I recovered quickly and was able to make the maximum of a revised set-up that we worked out after the warm-up this morning.
The first time I drove the C18 I said it had potential; today we were able to prove that on a circuit where the driver can also make a difference. I twice set fastest lap, but when I made my pit stop the lollipop man seemed to signal to me twice and I stalled the engine. Not long afterwards the gearbox broke. This is bitterly disappointing, but we can see the car's promise and our next step is to learn more about setting it up, especially for qualifying.

Pedro Diniz:
I hat to contend with a fait bit of oversteer again today, but nevertheless our strategy of a long first stint was paying strong dividends and I was running sixth when Tagagi came out of the pits ahead of me. When I tried to lap him in Turn 10 he just across me, drove over my car's nose, and I spun. I'm really upset with him; he should learn to look at the blue flags, especially when so many are being waved at him.

Peter Sauber:
Today strong fighting drives by Jean and Pedro saw both of our cars lying in the points before they retired; Jean in fifth place, Pedro sixth. Jean twice set the fastest lap, and overall we had the fourth best time even though we did not finish what for us was an unlucky race. While this performance was very encouraging, we need to ask ourselves why we are not yet able to show similar speed in qualifying.

Comments Saturday

Jean Alesi:
My car felt much better today. Last night we stripped down the rear suspension, and suspect that a seized bearing may have been the cause of my handling problem yesterday.
This afternoon I had no problems and no traffic on my best lap, but my laptime represented everything the car could give in slightly different conditions. That was as fast as we could go.

Pedro Diniz:
This morning the balance of my car was very good, but the track changed slightly for qualifying and I couldn't get the right set-up. There was just too much oversteer on the entry to corners, and that cost me a lot of time.
My last run was also spoiled by Villeneuve. It wasn't really fair because he held me up even though he was coming into the pits.

Peter Sauber:
After free prctice we had expected something better from qualifying. We came to Brazil with high hopes, which have not yet been realised. However, we will undertake an intensive search for a better solution for the race tomorrow.

Comments Friday

Jean Alesi:
Right from the first run this afternoon there was something wrong in the rear suspension of my car. We tried many times to change the damper set-up in an effort to cure it, but maybe something is broken. I don't know yet. But it created a very strange movement in the rear suspension, which was upsetting and cost me a lot of time. It's very disappointing. Things are so close outside the top three teams that any problem like this inevitably sets you back.