Heidfeld fastest in Saturday practice

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
October 18 2008

In the third practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica both delivered in impressive style. For the major part of the session they focused on completing their set-up work but in the dying minutes they really went for it and ultimately finished first and third respectively.

With temperatures reaching 27 degrees Celsius, the third practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix was held in the hottest conditions of the weekend so far. For 55 minutes of the 60-minute session, Robert and Nick both concentrated on their scheduled preparation programmes, focussing on making the final steps on the way to finding the perfect set-up solutions for qualifying and the race.

In the dying minutes, however, having completed this task they then demonstrated that they had realised this goal. With five minutes remaining, they finally went out on mediums - the softer of the two compounds available for the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

Robert was the first of the BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing to set a competitive lap time. On his 14th lap - the first timed lap of his final five-lap stint - the Pole crossed the finish line in 1:36.135 minutes to temporarily secure second position on the time sheets, just 15 thousandths of a second behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Some 50 seconds later, however, Nick did even better. And like his team-mate he set his best time on his 14th lap. With a virtually perfect lap, the German outclassed the entire field and crossed the line in 1:36.061 minutes, thus taking top position on the time sheets.

In the qualifying session, beginning at 14:00hrs local time (07:00hrs BST), Nick and Robert will give their very best in order to confirm the performance delivered in session three and to secure top positions on the starting grid for the penultimate round of the 2008 Formula One World Championship season.