Sauber drivers Felipe Massa and Jacques Villeneuve achieved seventh and 13th positions respectively after this afternoon's first qualifying session, so tomorrow they will start final qualifying 14th and eighth in the running order.

Jacques Villeneuve: "This was a much better qualifying than I've had so far this year (Melbourne apart), and the new aerodynamic parts that the team has brought here have made a big improvement. Together with more work on the mechanical and electronic side, the car is a lot better. I made a small mistake which cost me a couple of tenths, and the way that things were this afternoon that cost me a couple of positions, but overall it was a much better day."

Felipe Massa: "I'm really, really happy with the work the team has been doing on the car, which has improved a lot since Bahrain. I'm also really satisfied with my lap. It was clean and I didn't make any mistakes, so we were able to show our true potential. But I'm very disappointed that we had to change the engine last night, so I have to lose 10 grid places. That's very frustrating. Without that I think I could have made an excellent race. But, even starting so far back, I think it will still be possible to do a good job, and even to dream of points."

Peter Sauber (Team Principal): "At the beginning of the season I said that the C24 was not where it should be but that it had a lot of potential. I'm glad that we could make our first significant step here in Imola, and I am confident that more will follow.

First of all, thanks to the team at Hinwil who are using our resources there to their optimum. And thanks to Felipe for an excellent lap. Jacques was also able to demonstrate the step he has taken this weekend, even though he was not 100 percent happy with his lap.