Trouble-free day for BMW Sauber at Sepang
The BMW Sauber F1 Team focussed on race preparation in the two free practice sessions for the PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix, with both drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, running without any technical problems.
Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.09-05 / BMW P86/9
1st Practice: 13th, 1.37.039 min / 2nd Practice: 17th, 1.37.267 min
“Today we concentrated totally on race preparation, and particularly on tyre comparisons. The specifications that Bridgestone have brought to Malaysia are very different from the ones we used in Melbourne, and obviously Sepang also has different characteristics. In addition, the track temperatures were much higher here, so it was a new situation. We gathered a lot of data and have the basis to use the tyres to their full potential during the race. While we were doing long-runs today, tomorrow we will focus on the single lap performance.”
Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.09-04 / BMW P86/9
1st Practice: 18th, 1.37.640 min (KERS) / 2. Practice: 20 th 1.37.930 min
”Certainly the results don’t look good, but in Melbourne it was a similar picture on Friday. Nevertheless we do have some work to do in order to improve the balance of the car. In the first session I was running with the KERS and in the second I didn’t use the device. Using it makes a huge difference to the car’s balance, but without it there is the loss of the boost. This was the experience we wanted and why we took it out for this session. Now we will throw everything into the mix - lap times, data and my feelings - and then decide whether or not to use the KERS here.”
Willy Rampf, Head of Engineering: ”We stuck to our planned programme today, and concentrated on race preparation. One focus point was the tyre comparison on the long-runs. Apart from that we tested two different options with Nick today – in the first session he drove with the KERS and in the second without. We did this for two reasons: On the one hand we wanted to get a direct comparison and on the other hand we wanted to practice changing in between the two sessions. We did not have any technical problems.”
