http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/4/7600.html - 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 [/quote]
Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying, Saturday – 05.04.08
04-05-2008 Press Release
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]
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