OCTOBER 4, 2002

Massa to return to Sauber one last time

Felipe Massa was back behind the wheel for Sauber this week at the Mugello circuit, in preparation for his final race with the Swiss team next weekend, the Japanese Grand Prix.

Massa was replaced in Indianapolis by the man who will replace him next year, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, because the Brazilian was to be given a penality of ten grid positions for the US round of the championship for an accident he caused in Italy. Peter Sauber was able to avoid the penality by putting Frentzen in the car at Indy.

The Japanese GP will be Massa's final race with the team which introduced him to Formula 1. Peter Sauber gave Massa a test after the young Brazilian dominated the 2001 European Formula 3000 series, and he impressed the team enough to sign him as a replacement for Kimi Raikkonen this year.

Massa will be replaced by Frentzen despite showing more speed than teammate Nick Heidfeld more often than not this year...