Silverstone (GB). It was mixed fortunes for the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers in qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. For Nick Heidfeld it was a good day, as fifth fastest means he equalled his previous best performance of 2008 from Melbourne. However, the reverse happened to Robert Kubica, as a problem with his car in the last part of qualifying meant he was tenth fastest, and this is his worst performance of the season.

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.08-07 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 5th, 1:21.022 min (3rd Practice: 15th, 1:22.916 min)
“I’m quite happy with fifth because it just continues a positive trend which began in qualifying in Magny-Cours, and confirms all our efforts and work have paid off. I can now manage again to heat up the tyres properly and get them to work, but we shall continue to work on this subject. In Q2 Robert and I where just separated by two hundreds of a second. Generally my car was a lot better today than on Friday. However, on my last lap in Q3 it felt a little bit strange, so we have to find out what this was. I think we shall have an exciting race tomorrow. There is a high chance of rain!”

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.08-03 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 10th, 1:19.788 min (from Q2) (3rd Practice: 19th, 1:23.282 min)
“It was a difficult qualifying in the end. Finally we were on the right pace. Qualifying 1 was good and qualifying 2 was even better, as the first time on option tyres was very good. I backed off in the last sector to just bring the car home, and it was still enough to be two or three tenths off the McLaren time. In qualifying 3 I went through the first sector without any problems, but then I felt the same problem at the rear I felt on Friday. Now we have to analyse everything and see what is going on.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“Up to the top ten qualifying session everything went according to plan, but then Robert aborted his lap in Q3 because he realised he had a technical problem with the car. Unfortunately time was too short to analyse the problem during the session and get him back out on the track. It is a shame because both drivers were strong, which is proved by Nick’s fifth place. It was a very good performance by him.”

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
“Both our drivers were well on their way in the first two qualifying sessions, and only needed a single lap to easily advance into the final stage of qualifying. However, in Q3 Robert couldn’t complete his fast lap, and over the radio told us about a technical problem with the car. Nick’s performance was impressive and put him fifth fastest. We are all very happy about that. The weather prediction for tomorrow is mixed. We are prepared for anything that might come.”