BMW remains confident after rather disappointing qualifying session

The BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers qualified eighth and ninth in Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. Nick Heidfeld, who lost a lot of track time on Friday, was almost two hundredths of a second faster than Robert Kubica. Everyone is following the weather forecast with interest as typhoon Krosa approaches the Chinese coast so tomorrow Shanghai could have some heavy rain.

Nick Heidfeld: BMW Sauber F1.07-08 / BMW P86/7 (T-Car F1.07.04) Qualifying 8th, 1.38.455 min (3rd practice: 9th, 1.37.176 min) “I don’t want to complain as my car was okay. However, the time I lost in both Friday practice sessions definitely influenced the result. It was only in Q2 that I was able to drive on the limit, but this was not in every corner. In Q3 the balance was not so good with the fuel on board. Our weather forecast says rain for tomorrow. There is a typhoon in the area, but perhaps it will move elsewhere although at the moment that is not really clear.“

Robert Kubica: BMW Sauber F1.07-03 / BMW P86/7 Qualifying 9th, 1.38,472 min (3rd Practice: 7th, 1.37.024 min) “I have to be honest and say I was expecting more from today. This morning I was a lot happier with the car and felt we were going in the right direction for the set-up. However, this afternoon just didn’t go right for me. I now have to concentrate on the race and hope the strategy I have can help me recover from this disappointing result.“

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: “We had no problems during qualifying, and as has happened at every race this season we got both cars into the third qualifying session and this time we will be eighth and ninth. With rain forecast for tomorrow we will see what these grid positions are worth.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director: “Nick and Robert reached the crucial third Qualifying without any problems. Secretly, we hoped for better positions than eight and nine. Anyway, for the weather conditions we expect tomorrow we are in good shape.”