Friday: BMW completes its final Friday in F1

Completing their final Friday in the premier category, BMW managed to master the new layout of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, achieving mixed results but with very positive feedback regarding the track and its environment.

The BMW drivers carried out their Friday test day as they do at all other Grand Prix events, prioritizing setup work for Sunday’s race rather than Saturday’s qualification. This work was interrupted by an engine failure on one of the two cars, limiting Robert Kubica’s track time.

Nick Heidfeld – 5th and 13th:

The track offers everything you could ask for. The tarmac is good, the layout is also quite good with the fast turns in the first sector, that endless straight with an overtaking opportunity for the second sector, and the third sector being a bit tight and winding but flows very well.

I’m not happy with the car’s setup and balance at the moment. It’s mainly an issue for a single fast lap rather than on long runs where lap times improve. The visibility during sunset and twilight was not a problem today. I hope this doesn’t change with more dust in the air. As for total darkness, I feel that the spotlights were brighter in Singapore.

Robert Kubica – 11th and 20th:

The track is quite interesting, even if there aren’t many high-speed corners and most are very short. The last sector of the track reminds me of Singapore. We were just starting to work on the settings and tire evaluation in the second free practice session when I had an engine failure. The track conditions improve immediately with each lap, it’s a big loss, and I lost nearly an hour of extremely valuable track time.

Willy Rampf – Director of Engineering:

« At the start of the first free practice sessions, we realized that we had been quite accurate with what we expected from the track compared to our simulations. However, it is not easy to assess our own performance after the first day. We worked on race preparation, as usual. Obviously, the engine failure on Robert’s car cost us some setup time. However, I believe we have enough data available to draw the right conclusions for the rest of the weekend. »