Sepang (MAL). BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, Robert Kubica and Hick Heidfeld, came sixth and seventh respectively in the qualifying session for the PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix. The BMW Sauber F1 Team is the only one that has managed to bring both cars into the top ten of qualifying for the twentieth consecutive time.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.08-03 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 6th, 1.36.727 min (3rd practice: 17th, 1.36.618 min)
“I’m quite happy with today’s performance, although just a little was missing for me to be on the second row of the grid. The unpredictable weather brought an additional thrill to the qualifying. With the set-up I chose, I knew that qualifying would not be easy for me, but over the weekend we have put a lot of effort into the race preparation so I’m optimistic for tomorrow. ”

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.08-04 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 7th, 1.36.753 min (3rd practice: 1st, 1.35.019 min)
“I’m very disappointed about the outcome of Q3. The first corners of my last lap went smoothly, but then there were several cars driving very slowly on their in-laps. Apparently they had no information that the qualifying was still going on. Before turn four I lost a lot of time because both McLarens were cruising on the racing line. I think this has cost me about two tenths of a second, which would have meant being third instead of seventh. I just couldn’t drive on the line I wanted and, even more importantly, could not brake were I wanted. However, I was very happy with my car in qualifying.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“Ferrari was in a class of its own in qualifying. Behind them it was extremely tight. From P3 there were five cars within only 15 hundredths of a second. In this group we missed out on a bit of luck, so we ended up sixth and seventh. In the race tomorrow the weather will play a crucial role.”

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
“With this result we are the only team to have made it into the top ten of qualifying with both drivers for the 20th time since the end of 2006. That shows the consistency within our team. All three parts of qualifying were very exciting, because there was the continued threat of a rain shower. As a result we had to change our programme several times. In Q3 everything was very tight and our drivers just missed by the blink of an eye to be in better positions. Nick lost time on his final run because he didn’t have a clear track, as there were several cars in the way driving slowly on their in-laps.”