China Race. BMW does well, but not enough: 5 & 6th

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
October 19 2008

In the rather uneventful Chinese Grand Prix, the BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing delivered in fine style. In the end, Nick Heidfeld finished fifth and Robert Kubica crossed the finish line right behind his team-mate, in sixth position .

Both Nick and Robert made a great start into the Chinese Grand Prix. Nick leaped up to sixth from his ninth position on the grid, thus compensating for the three-position grid penalty he had received for allegedly having impeded Red Bull's David Coulthard in the first knockout phase of qualifying. And Robert did just as well as his team-mate: the Pole worked his way up to eighth, from his eleventh grid position. Although it has to be admitted that the BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing benefited from a collision of Jarno Trulli (Toyota) and Toro Rosso's Sébastien Bourdais who had been seventh and eighth on the grid.

For both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, these great starts represented the beginning of a fine race, with Nick in particularly demonstrating the competitiveness of the BMW Sauber F1.08. During his first stint, the German even was able to slightly pressurise fifth-placed McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen. On lap 18, the German made his first pit stop and when everybody apart from the one-stoppers had made their first stops, on lap 29, he was back in sixth position.

Meanwhile, Robert also delivered in fine style and easily defended his eighth position.
The Pole's first-stint performance turned out to be particularly impressive when it became obvious that he was the last of the two-stoppers to come in for his first pit stop. While the race leaders, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari pairing Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton as well as Renault's Fernando Alonso, pitted on laps 15 and 16 respectively, the Pole completed a total of 24 laps before coming in for his first stop - from third. And just as Nick, he was back in his previous position, on lap 29.

On lap 33, when Toyota's one-stopper Timo Glock had made his only pit stop, Robert gained another position and moved up to seventh, 7.6 seconds behind Nick. From this point in time, the BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing focused on defending their position instead of taking too many risks. Nick's gap to fifth-placed Kovalainen still amounted to just four seconds but it's a well-known fact that passing a car that isn't clearly slower than yours is virtually impossible in today's Formula One - even for a driver such as Nick who often has delivered stunning overtaking manoeuvres, in the past. Consequently, Nick did without making another effort to pressurise the Finn.

On lap 36, however, Kovalainen suffered a puncture and slowed down, thus offering both Nick and Robert the chance of gaining another position and continuing in fifth and sixth respectively.

On lap 40 and 41 respectively, Nick and Robert pitted for the second and final time to continue and again, they were back in their previous positions when everybody - apart from the one-stoppers - had made their second stops. Afterwards, they defended these positions until the race was over and added another seven valuable World Championship points to the BMW Sauber F1 Team's tally, by finishing fifth and sixth.

For Robert, this sixth place means that his chances of securing the Drivers' Championship are over, however, he may be proud of what he has achieved in the season to date, nevertheless. After all, holding third position in the championship with 17 rounds contested arguably is more than what the Pole will have hoped to achieve, at the beginning of the 2008 season.

Now, the BMW Sauber F1 Team will give its very best to end the 2008 season on a high. After all, there still is the chance of securing second position in the Constructor's Championship by securing a great result in the season finale at Sao Paulo, Brazil.