Magny-Cours (FR). In the first two practice sessions for the French Grand Prix the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, came fifth and sixth and ninth and eighth respectively.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.08-03 / BMW P86/8
1st Practice: 5th, 1:16.377 min / 2nd Practice: 6th, 1:16.317 min
“This was a quite difficult Friday and we lost some running time in the second practice session due to technical problems. The balance of the car was a bit strange and, therefore, it was quite difficult to drive. We now have to analyse the data and see what we can do for tomorrow.”

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.08-07 / BMW P86/8
1st Practice: 9th, 1:16.870 min / 2nd Practice: 8th, 1:16.458 min
“It is too early to say how we will perform here, but today my free practice was trouble free. We did everything that is on the usual Friday programme, including the tyre comparison and evaluation. At the very end of the second session the car bottomed out heavily at the exit of turn three after I ran over the kerbs. I could feel something come loose and went back to the pits one or two minutes before the flag.”

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
“Today we completed the usual race preparation and concentrated mainly on the tyre comparison. In addition, we made some set-up changes, and we will now analyse all the data we gathered. At the beginning of the second session Robert’s car had a misfire which we fixed by changing an electronic component. This cost us some time, but we were still able to complete our programme. Although Robert is not yet happy with the set-up, I think we have a good basis for the rest of the weekend.”