Hungary Quali: Kubica 4th, Heidfeld blocked

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
August 2 2008

BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Robert Kubica secured fourth position in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. He is now in a promising position for adding some more championship points to his tally in Sunday's race. Nick Heidfeld, however, encountered a disappointing session and finished 16th.

The qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix was held in hot conditions, with ambient temperatures of 30° C and a track temperature of 43 ° C. While Robert easily advanced to the second knockout phase of qualifying by finishing seventh with a 1:20.053-minute lap, it was a bitter session for Nick. In his second and final effort, the German was on the way to achieve a significant improvement. In the final corner, however, he was hampered by traffic and lost dearly, crossing the line in 1:21.045 minutes. In the dying seconds of the session Nick was pushed out of the top-15 by Honda's Jenson Button and had to settle for 16th. The fastest lap of the first knockout phase was set by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton who crossed the line in 1:19.376 minutes.

Eliminated: Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima, Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil.

Advancing to the top-ten qualifying didn't represent a problem for Robert. The Pole made two efforts and although he failed to improve during his second attept, the 1:19.776-minute lap clocked in his first outing was good enough to finish seventh. The fastest time, a 1:19.068-minute lap, was clocked by Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Eliminated: Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Sébastien Bourdais, Nico Rosberg.

In the top-ten qualifying, Robert delivered in fine style. His first flyer was clocked at 1:22.061 minutes. After a short pit stop he went out a second time in the closing stages of the session. With his 1:21.281-minute lap, the 23-year-old secured fourth on the grid and now is in a promising position to continue the BMW Sauber F1 Team's streak of good GP results. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position with a lap time of 1:20.899 minutes.

Result: 1st Lewis Hamilton, 2nd Heikki Kovalainen, 3rd Felipe Massa, 4th Robert Kubica, 5th Timo Glock, 6th Kimi Räikkönen, 7th Fernando Alonso, 8th Mark Webber, 9th Jarno Trulli, 10th Nelson Piquet.