Another disappointing, yet expected, qualifying for BMW

By BMW Sauber F1
April 25 2009

Compared to the Chinese GP weekend, the BMW Sauber F1 Team showed a slight improvement in qualifying for the Bahrain GP, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld both advancing to Q2. On the other hand, they both failed to make it to the top-ten qualifying shoot-out and had to settle for 13th and 14th positions.

In Q1 for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Nick and Robert both advanced to the second knockout phase. In burning heat, with maximum air temperatures of 38° C and track temperatures of 51° C, both BMW Sauber F1-Team drivers went out twice and improved lap by lap. In the end, Nick finished 10th by setting a personal best time of 1:33.377 minutes on his sixth lap, the first flying lap of his second run. While Robert finished 12th, crossing the line in 1:33.495 minutes on his sixth lap. The fastest lap time of the session (1:32.680 minutes) was posted by Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

Eliminated: Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Sébastien Bourdais

For both Robert and Nick, Q2 meant the end of their hopes of securing top-ten positions on the starting grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix. At no point in time were the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers able to match the pace of the front-runners and at the end of the day they failed to advance to the top-ten qualifying. Both set their personal fastest lap times on their second runs, with Robert proving to be slightly quicker than his German team-mate. By crossing the line in 1:33.487 minutes the Pole secured 13th while Nick had to settle for taking 14th position with his 1:33.562-minute lap. Once again, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel proved to be the quickest, lapping the "Bahrain International Circuit" in 1:32.474 minutes.

Eliminated: Heikki Kovalainen, Kazuki Nakajima, Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet

In the top-ten qualifying, Toyota's Jarno Trulli secured pole position with a 1:33.431-minute lap, followed by his team-mate Timo Glock (1:33.712 minutes). Former BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Sebastian Vettel (1:34.015 minutes) completed the top-three by finishing third.

Result: 1st Jarno Trulli, 2nd Timo Glock, 3rd Sebastian Vettel, 4th Jenson Button, 5th Lewis Hamilton, 6th Rubens Barrichello, 7th Fernando Alonso, 8th Felipe Massa, 9th Nico Rosberg, 10th Kimi Räikkönen