Saturday: Disappointing Qualifications for BMW

Very discreet since the beginning of the weekend, the BMWs have not managed to leave the second half of the table this Saturday. The main problem for the drivers was the low grip of the car, regardless of the session and tire type.

Heidfeld fails to reach Q3 in 11th position while Kubica stopped in Q1. The team hopes to recover tomorrow with a good strategy and possibly the arrival of a providential rain.

Nick Heidfeld – 11th and 11th:

« My first and best lap in Q2 was really the maximum I could get out of the car, it was really good. I was hoping to do better on my second lap because track conditions always improve during qualifying. But for no particular reason, the Option tire set had no more grip. We need to find out what happened. »

« I missed the top 10 by a hundredth of a second, nevertheless it’s clear that we lack pace. We hope that new aero developments coming for the Spanish GP will help us. For now, we have to make the most of the situation, and it may rain tomorrow, which would be great. We will think about our strategy for tomorrow, I’m out of Q3 so I’m free to choose my fuel load for the start. »

Robert Kubica – 12th and 17th (qualified 18th):

« The car had no grip and was not easy to drive. I was sliding with the set of soft tires. After this morning’s session, I didn’t expect this at all, when the gap between the soft and hard tires was bigger. Additionally, I made a mistake braking at turn 12 which compromised my lap. »

Mario Theissen – Director of BMW Motorsport:

« Today’s qualifications were very disappointing. The data analysis from the practice sessions indicated that our car wouldn’t perform well on this track. Both drivers complained of a lack of grip, and we haven’t managed to solve this problem. Because of this, they couldn’t achieve perfect laps, and it affected our positions on the grid. We now have to make the best of this situation with a good race strategy. »