Productive day for BMW

The BMW Sauber F1 Team enjoyed two troublefree 90 minute practice sessions in preparation for the US Grand Prix. Nick Heidfeld was second and fifth fastest respectively but unhappy with the balance of his F1.07. Nineteen-year old Sebastian Vettel, who steps in for Robert Kubica in Indianapolis, also used the sessions to familiarize himself with the car again and learn the track, which is new to him. He did a total of 83 laps, which was more than anybody else.

Nick Heidfeld: BMW Sauber F1.07-05/BMW P86/7 1st Practice: 2nd , 1.12.391 min
2nd Practice: 5th, 1.13.026 min “After the first session we looked pretty good on the results sheet, but that was only on the sheet I'm afraid. I don't know who ran on which fuel load and used new tyres. But in any case this morning I was already unhappy with the balance of the car and there was very little improvement this afternoon. We haven’t managed yet to get the tyres to work properly. The car is just sliding too much, but we are working on that.”

Sebastian Vettel: BMW Sauber F1.07-03/BMW P86/7 1st Practice: 4th, 1.12.869 min
2nd Practice: 11th, 1.13.217 min “Obviously today it was going quite well. We did a lot of mileage and we were able to find out quite a bit about the tyres and the set-up of the car. We have just been trying to progress. I think it is a normal Friday. Of course it is a completely new task for me but so far I am quite happy with what I did. I think now is about working together with the team to find the maximum for tomorrow and Sunday. I don’t have expectations as today it was important to get used to the car again as the last time I drove it was Friday in Malaysia. The car is not so bad as you could see we were quite quick in Montreal, and here also it doesn’t look so bad. I thought the track was quite good with a nice rhythm, and it is quite interesting to drive with the banking. After a couple of times you get quite used to it but it is fun.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director “We have been able to work on both the cars with no problems for the whole day. It is always difficult to find the right compromise here for setting up the car. Nick is not happy yet with his car's balance. Sebastian did a good job. For him we have extended the usual programme in order to give him more time to learn the track and get familiar with the procedures such as pit stops. He did 83 laps which means he did more than anybody else.”