Gearbox change for Kubica

The BMW Sauber F1 Team overall had a positive start to the weekend of the PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix in the humid heat of Sepang. Robert Kubica was eighth fastest in both free practice sessions on Friday, although he lost some track time in the morning due to a gearbox change.

As planned, Nick Heidfeld was able to tick off his to do list for the usual Friday set-up work and was 11th and 13th.

Robert Kubica: BMW Sauber F1.08-03 / BMW P86/8 1st Practice : 8th, 1.37.218 min
2nd Practice: 8th, 1.36.671 min “After I had lost quite some time in the morning session due to a gearbox problem, we mainly concentrated on evaluating different downforce configurations and comparing the tyres in the afternoon. We now have a lot of data available, which we have to analyse and understand in order to make the right decisions for the rest of the weekend. We haven’t had much time yet to work on the set-up of the car, so there is more to come.”

Nick Heidfeld: BMW Sauber F1.08-04 / BMW P86/8 1st Practice : 11th, 1.37.649 min
2nd Practice: 13th, 1.37.106 min “I’m quite happy with the Friday sessions. The car’s balance here is initially better than it was on Friday in Melbourne, although it is not really good yet. I hope we manage to find a couple of set-up improvements for Saturday, just like we did in Australia. Although the track has been resurfaced, it has a quite good grip level which is not always the case. A big question mark is the weather. Precise predictions for rain are difficult here. I don’t have anything against normal rain, the opposite is the case. But even I don’t wish for a tropical downpour here for the race. If this happens you just don’t see anything and have too much aquaplaning.”

Willy Rampf, Technical Director: “We concentrated on the race preparation today and collected a lot of data concerning the tyres. We also tested different aerodynamic configurations. Now we will analyse the data. On Robert’s car we measured a gearbox pressure that was too high. There was a risk of damaging the cooling system, therefore we decided to change the rear end to enable Robert to continue the session. Compliments to the mechanics, who did a great job. We had a dry first day of practice, but we expect some rain for the remainder of the weekend.”