BMW Sauber F1 Team
2009 European Grand Prix
Qualifying
Saturday, 22 August 2009

Weather: sunny and dry, 26-30°C Air, 36-47°C Track

Valencia (ES). With Robert Kubica making it into the top ten and Nick Heidfeld only just missing the final qualifying session by fractions of tenths of a second to be 11th, the BMW Sauber F1 Team was quite satisfied in Valencia. Qualifying Results

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.09-08 / BMW P86/9
Qualifying 10th, 1:40.512 min (3rd Free Practice: 3rd, 1:39.513 min)
“If lately you have been starting from the rear of the grid, you cannot be disappointed with tenth in qualifying. We have to be realistic. I think today overall was a good day. Unfortunately I had some traffic on my final run and I made a small mistake. This cost me a few tenths. Scoring points will be difficult tomorrow.”

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.09-07 / BMW P86/9
Qualifying 11th, 1:38.826 min in Q2 (3rd Free Practice: 13th, 1:40.230 min)
“It is the sixth time this year I have just missed the top ten qualifying and come 11th by fractions of tenths of a second. Of course I’m a little bit disappointed, but on the other side it means we have freedom regarding the fuel we carry and I hope for a good race. Everybody in the team is determined to put in a good performance and show what they can do for the future. Our car is generally somewhat better and I think from P11 points are possible.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“We are satisfied with the qualifying result. Compared to recent races it was a step forward into the midfield, and this is what we had expected from our development package. With Robert we have got one car into the top ten and Nick in 11th is just behind. Q3 didn’t go ideally for Robert, otherwise he could have finished even higher up. Congratulations to McLaren-Mercedes for having both cars on the front row. This proves how quickly things can change.”

Willy Rampf (Head of Engineering):
“Our goal was to get at least one car into the top ten. With Robert we did so. However we expected to be in a better position. Nick missed Q3 only by the blink of an eye. Overall we took a step in the right direction with the aero update. Technically we had a qualifying without any problems.”

Qualifying Results