Heidfeld crashes in Practice 3, Kubica 5th

By BMW Sauber F1
May 9 2009

In the third practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix, Robert Kubica delivered in fine style to finish fifth on the time sheets. However, Nick Heidfeld, went off and hit the tyre wall halfway through the session and had to settle for finishing 20th.

In session three of the Spanish GP weekend, the BMW Sauber F1 Team displayed a clear upward trend. In sunny conditions, Robert had to carry out the majority of the preparation work as Nick's practice session came to an sudden and early end halfway through the session.

"I was a bit too fast, went off and hit the tyre walls at turn 12," explained the German. "Fortunately, the impact wasn't too serious and consequently the car was only slightly damaged." Due to the incident, Nick had to settle for finishing 20th on the timesheets, with his personal best time of 1:23.457 minutes set on his 7th lap.

Robert, however, had the opportunity to demonstrate the improved competitiveness of the enhanced BMW Sauber F1.09. The Pole completed a four stints totalling 21 laps, and on his 20th lap he crossed the finish line in 1:21.239 minutes to finish fifth on the time sheets, 0.686 seconds behind the quickest man of the session, Ferrari's Felipe Massa (1:20.553 minutes).

"We knew that our new aero package represents a significant step forward," added Nick, "Nonetheless, Robert's fifth place was even better than we had expected. Now you can say that our chances of advancing to the top-ten qualifying are clearly better than was the case on the previous race weekends."

In the qualifying session, starting at 14:00hrs CEST (13:00hrs BST), Robert and Nick will both give their very best to demonstrate that Nick's assessment wasn't too optimistic.