Shock, relief and a podium place for BMW at Montreal
Shock, relief and happiness – the BMW Sauber F1 Team experienced it all during the Canadian Grand Prix. The shock was the horrendous accident that happened to Robert Kubica on lap 27. The relief came halfway through the race when the team got the news from initial medical reports that he had not suffered any serious injuries.
By the time the race was over, the crew was able to be happy with the fantastic result of Nick Heidfeld finishing second. This is the team’s first podium of 2007 and its highest finish. The team received even more good news that Robert Kubica is in a Montreal hospital undergoing thorough medical checks and, according to doctors reports, should be released on Monday.
Nick Heidfeld: 2nd BMW Sauber F1.07-05/BMW P86/7 Fastest Lap: 1.16.696 min on lap 19 (3rd fastest overall) “More than anything else I am happy with the news that Robert is okay. We hoped to get a podium and we were speculating about maybe getting third, but didn’t expect second. More importantly, what is satisfying is I think I had a very good chance to finish second even in normal race conditions without so many safety cars, and Fernando being penalized. I was pulling away from him, I had a good gap after the stop and this was unexpected. Great thanks to the team as I think they have developed the car very well. Until quite late we didn’t know how strong we were because I had so many problems over the weekend, especially on Saturday. Then seeing the pace I was doing I spoke to the team and asked them to confirm that it was really as good as I thought. The race was great and definitely the best moment was the start where I overtook Fernando and was right behind Lewis in the slipstream. In the beginning I was a bit worried about Fernando as I was not only looking forward but looking back a bit. After that I just kept the car on the road, which was quite complicated.”
Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director “This was the most emotional race weekend we have experienced with our new team. After this race which was full of incidents we have two reasons to be very happy today: Firstly, according to the first medical reports, Robert has escaped this very heavy accident relatively unscathed. Then Nick laid the foundation stone for our first podium of the season yesterday with his third in qualifying. Today he put in a very strong performance and drove to second on his own merit. Congratulations to him and the entire BMW Sauber F1 Team. I believe Robert would have also come close to the podium today."
Willy Rampf, Technical Director "Most important is the news Robert isn't badly injured. This is thanks to the high safety standards the FIA have instigated over the past years. Before the accident Robert was in a promising position and on course to get valuable points. We hope he recovers quickly, but we are still waiting for news. For Nick our race strategy payed of. After the start he took advantage of Alonso's mistake and then drove a strong race. He was constantly in second position without losing contact to the front and this was not only due to the safety car periods. All in all it was a very difficult race, and second place is fantastic for us."
