Spanish GP Quali: Better but not enough for BMW: 10 & 13th

By BMW Sauber F1
May 9 2009

In qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld both demonstrated that the new aero package has improved the BMW Sauber F1.09's competitiveness. In the end, Robert qualified 10th and Nick will be 13th on the starting grid for tomorrow's race.

In Q1 for the Spanish Grand Prix, Nick and Robert both underlined the upward trend of the BMW Sauber F1 Team by easily advancing to the second knockout phase of qualifying. Robert completed two runs, and on his sixth lap the Pole set a personal best time of 1:20.931 minutes to secure ninth position. Nick, who had lost 30 minutes of the third practice session due to an accident, completed three runs and finished 12th on the timesheets by crossing the line in 1:21.095 minutes on the one flying lap of his third run. Ferrari's Felipe Massa proved to be the quickest in Q1 with a 1:20.484-minute lap.

Eliminated: Kimi Räikkönen, Sébastien Bourdais, Heikki Kovalainen, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella

In the second knockout phase of qualifying, making it to the top-ten shoot-out proved to be an easy task for Robert. The Pole completed just one run halfway through the second knockout phase to set a personal best time of 1:20.408 minutes, thus temporarily securing third place. While the major part of the field went out for a second run, the BMW Sauber F1 Team driver didn't and consequently dropped back to eighth position - but qualified for Q3, nevertheless. Nick, however, wasn't so lucky. The German also set a competitive time (1:20.676 minutes) on his second run and temporarily secured seventh position. On his second run, however, he failed to improve and dropped back to 13th. With a 1:19.954-minute lap, Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello was the quickest in Q2.

Eliminated: Kazuki Nakajima, Nelson Piquet, Nick Heidfeld, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastien Buemi

In the top-ten qualifying, Robert had to settle for finishing 10th. The BMW Sauber F1 Team driver clocked his personal best of 1:22.685 minutes on his first run and temporarily held seventh position, but, unlike his rivals, he was unable to improve and dropped back to tenth position. Nonetheless, the qualifying session for the Spanish Grad Prix represented an improvement for the Munich and Hinwil based squad and proved that the team is on the right path with its new aero package. Pole position was secured by Brawn GP's Jenson Button in 1:20.527 minutes.

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