Kubica clinches 2nd position in eventful race in Brazil

By BMW Sauber F1
October 18 2009

Robert Kubica secured the second podium finish of 2009 for the BMW Sauber F1 Team in Sao Paulo. The Pole finished runner-up in the Brazilian Grand Prix after a flawless performance. His team-mate Nick Heidfeld suffered a dose of bad luck: Following a problem during his pit stop the 32-year-old had to retire from the penultimate round of the season shortly after rejoining the action.

Thanks to a good start Robert laid the foundation for his first podium result since the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix. The 24-year-old overtook Toro Rosso's Sébastien Buemi and was running in seventh when several accidents happened in front of him in the "Senna-S": Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) lost his front wing in a tough duel with Red Bull's Mark Webber, who went on to win his second GP. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) crashed with Adrian Sutil (Force India). Robert gained three places.

Following the Trulli/Sutil incident the safety-car was deployed. Up to this point Nick had worked his way up from 18th to 12th. The German was able to gain even more ground after the re-start on lap 6. First he passed Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari, and one lap later he also overtook Renault's Romain Grosjean. Robert made perfect use of the re-start to improve to third. In the last corner before the safety-car came in he was running close to Nico Rosberg, entering the uphill start-finish straight in the slipstream of the Williams driver. Under braking for the "Senna-S", Robert managed to pass Rosberg.

Nick's chase for a top eight place came to an early end on lap 21. During his pit stop one lap earlier the crew suffered a problem with the fuel rig. Consequently the BMW Sauber F1 Team driver rejoined the race without any fresh fuel. Moments later he stopped and had to retire from the Brazilian GP.

Robert's stop on lap 24, however, went just perfectly and helped him to take yet another position. He rejoined ahead of Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello and was second behind Webber after all the other drivers had also completed their pit stops. Robert was matching the speed of the leader and made sure of his podium place.

On lap 47 Robert had his second trouble-free pit stop and re-took second after Barrichello completed his stop three laps later. As the gap to Webber was six seconds, the BMW Sauber F1 Team driver focussed on bringing the car home safely for the second podium result of the season after Nick's second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix. After 71 laps Robert crossed the line 7.6 seconds behind Webber, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton finished third.

For Robert this was the ninth podium of his Formula One career. The BMW Sauber F1 Team claimed its 17th top-3 finish since 2006.

Thanks to taking the chequered flag in fifth, Jenson Button (Brawn) celebrated the drivers' title after the 16th out of the season's 17 rounds. The Briton now has 89 points under his belt and in Abu Dhabi cannot be robbed of the lead by his rivals Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) and Barrichello, who finished fourth and eighth respectively in Brazil. In addition, Brawn GP are the new constructors' world champions.