Friday October 11th, 2002

Brazilian Felipe Massa is delighted to be back in action for this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix after missing the previous race.

The Sauber driver was penalised for an accident during the Italian Grand Prix and his team decided to replace him with German Heinz-Harald Frentzen in the United States race two weeks ago in order to avoid the penalty and have a stronger chance of defending their fifth place in the Constructors' Championship.

But rookie Massa returned to Grand Prix action for today's free practice for the Suzuka race, his last one with the Sauber team. The Brazilian set the 15th quickest time on his first visit to the Japanese circuit, and he was pleased with his return.

"I'm very pleased to be back at a Grand Prix, and I'm quite happy with today's performance," admitted Massa. "The car had a good balance, but I lost some time with a spark plug problem. Once that was fixed I ran into traffic towards the end of the afternoon session and I also made some mistakes, so I know I can go a lot quicker.

"I love this circuit. It's even better than I expected. Lots of technical corners and lots of fast ones. It's better than Spa, no question, much more of a challenge."

Teammate Nick Heidfeld, competing in his 50th Formula One Grand Prix this weekend, posted the 16th fastest time with the second Sauber.

Published at 05:49:49 GMT