Saturday: BMW-Sauber Rises from the Ashes in Belgium
The BMW Sauber team continued on the path of improvements seen at the last meeting in Valencia. The F1.09 in the hands of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica performed particularly well on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on this second day. Nick Heidfeld clearly displayed the team’s ambitions in the morning by taking the fastest time in […]
The BMW Sauber team continued on the path of improvements seen at the last meeting in Valencia. The F1.09 in the hands of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica performed particularly well on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on this second day. Nick Heidfeld clearly displayed the team’s ambitions in the morning by taking the fastest time in the last free practice session.
Motivated by the idea of securing a future for the team members following BMW’s decision to leave F1, the drivers continued to shine during qualifying and both made it into Q3, something that hadn’t happened since the Malaysian Grand Prix in March! Heidfeld in third and Kubica in fifth will be determined to achieve a strong race result to break the curse of this very challenging 2009 season.
Nick Heidfeld – 1st and 3rd:
The good result today is obviously very important for our team. After BMW’s announcement to withdraw from the sport, we are working to ensure the future of the team in Hinwil. No one gave up during this difficult period and today’s qualifying is a reward. We did our work during testing, made a few changes, and I’m quite happy with the balance of the car. I think the fact that the 2009 cars are running here with a medium downforce level for the first time this year explains why the grid is so different from previous races. I hope there will be no rain tomorrow, I am third and we have not considered the aspects of fuel load and downforce level.
Robert Kubica – 6th and 5th:
Even yesterday we had a good feeling because we were competitive. When we changed the engine before this morning’s session, I immediately lost speed on the straights. Unfortunately, we couldn’t solve this problem before qualifying. It’s a bit of a shame because we have a very competitive car for the first time this season. I hope to solve this tomorrow. I expect a difficult race because all the cars are very close.
Mario Theissen – Director:
«As it happened two races ago this season, the balance of power has been shaken today. Of course, we are very happy with this qualifying result. For the first time this season, we have been able to be in the positions we occupied last year. It seems that our car and the tires work particularly well on this circuit. This makes me confident for the race tomorrow. Congratulations to Giancarlo Fisichella and Force India for the team’s first pole position.»
