Kubica gives BMW Sauber maiden pole in Bahrain

Kubica gives BMW Sauber maiden pole in Bahrain

Massa has made the running here all weekend, but on Saturday he had to play second fiddle to Robert Kubica as the Pole grabbed the first pole position of his career, and the first for BMW Sauber. When the chips were down in the final runs of Q3, Lewis Hamilton went to the top with 1m 33.292s for McLaren, but then Kubica banged in 1m 33.096s - even though he said his car was pulling to one side under braking - and when Massa came up short with 1m 33.123s, the dye was set, to the delight of the men from Munich and Hinwil. Their speeds, of course, could owe much to their respective fuel loads, but it was all great theatre. Behind them, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen just pipped fellow countryman, McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen, for fourth, 1m 33.418s to 1m 33.488s, and again fuel loads may be a factor there. Nick Heidfeld put his BMW Sauber in sixth place with 1m 33.737s, beating Jarno Trulli who again had the Toyota in the top 10 with 1m 33.994s. Williams faded a little after the speed Nico Rosberg has shown all weekend, but the German will line up eighth with 1m 34.015s. Jenson Button achieved his top 10 target with ninth place and 1m 35.057s for Honda, while Renault’s speed also faded as Fernando Alonso settled for 10th with 1m 35.115s. Once again conditions were different, with many drivers complaining that the wind was wreaking havoc on their cars’ balance and stability. Q2 was dominated by Massa, who whirled his Ferrari round in 1m 31.188s to head Kovalainen (1m 31.718s) and Kubica (1m 31.745s). The only driver to improve significantly over his first run time was Heidfeld, who jumped to fourth with 1m 31.909s. The Q2 fallers this time were Red Bull’s Mark Webber (1m 32.371s), Honda’s Rubens Barrichello (1m 32.508s), Toyota’s Timo Glock (1m 32.528s), Renault’s Nelson Piquet (1m 32.790s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais (1m 32.915s) and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima (1m 32.943s). They will start the race in positions 11 through 16. Takuma Sato brought out a brief red flag in Q1 after spinning his Super Aguri in the final corner and walloping it backwards into the pit wall. He parked up just past the pit exit, and the session was stopped while the car was recovered. The ensuing mad scramble over the final four minutes saw the Japanese driver and team mate Anthony Davidson eliminated, with respective times of 1m 35.725s and 1m 34.140s, together with Red Bull’s David Coulthard (1m 33.433s), Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella (1m 33.501s), Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel (1m 33.562s) and Force India’ Adrian Sutil (1m 33.845s). Coulthard was particularly unlucky, as 1m 33.415s was sufficient to get Red Bull stablemate Bourdais through into Q2. This time there were no penalties for inadvertent blocking, after an FIA edict threatened to penalise any driver deemed to be driving unnecessarily slowly. Cars leaving the pits were timed between SC line 2 (the second safety car line, 50 metres before Turn One) and SC line 1 (the second safety car line, after Turn 15), and any car exceeding a time of 1m 39.0s between these points would be deemed to have been driven unnecessarily slowly.

BMW Press Release
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Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying, Saturday – 05.04.08

Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying, Saturday – 05.04.08

Weather: Dry, 27-29°C Air, 39-45°C Track

Sakhir (BH). The Pole is on pole - the BMW Sauber F1 Team celebrates its first fastest time in qualifying. Robert Kubica was quickest in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. It is the 38th Grand Prix for the team and the 25th for Kubica. Team mate, Nick Heidfeld, was sixth.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.08-03 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 1st, 1.33.096 min (3rd practice: 7th, 1.33.024 min)
“I am very happy. I missed the chance to take pole position in Australia, but this time it worked out well. My first run in Q3 was quite good, but I made a small mistake in the first corner. The second run was better, although I again made a small mistake in corner 9. We knew before the season that the car was good due to the results of the computer simulation and the wind tunnel work. Finally it has paid off that we never gave up working hard. I want to thank the entire team who have worked so hard over the last months. We will now study the data and prepare for tomorrow. A long race lies ahead of us.”

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.08-04 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 6th, 1.33.737 min (3rd practice: 20th, 1.34.074 min)
“First of all I want to congratulate Robert. The first pole position for our team is a great success, and it is fantastic we have a car that enabled us to achieve this. In view of this, of course, I can’t be satisfied with sixth. But after I had a lot of difficulties in the practice sessions getting the most out of the tyres and the grip for a single lap, it could have been a lot worse today. Since Friday we have changed the balance of the car and it is much better now. Anyway, on the long runs it was okay right from the beginning therefore I have no reason to hang my head down before the race.”

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“This is a fantastic day for Robert and our young team. We really did not expect to be on pole position. We are only in our third season and are at the very top of the grid for the first time. It is another step up the ladder. On the pit wall I was told it took 256 races for Sauber to get there. Robert managed to do a perfect lap while Nick is not entirely happy here so far, but he also has good chances from the third row.”

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
“This is a very special day for us because we have our first ever pole position as a team. We deserved it thanks to a good drive from Robert. A big compliment to him - not only for his final run as he has been very quick here since Friday morning. But Nick is also in a very good position for the race – we are really looking forward to it.”[/quote]