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Brazil Race: BMW breaks the 100 points barrier!
By BMW Sauber F1 Team October 21 2007
In a thrilling season finale, Robert Kubica claimed fifth place for the BMW Sauber F1 Team, while Nick Heidfeld finished sixth. With this result the Munich and Hinwil based squad's pairing added another seven points to the team's tally, thus breaking the 100-point barrier.
In the burning heat of Interlagos, Robert and Nick delivered another fine race. In order to be well prepared for all situations, the BMW Sauber F1 Team had opted for two different strategies. While Robert contested the race on a three-stop strategy, Nick made just two pit stops. In the end, both strategies proved to be successful.

Being on a lower fuel load, Robert passed Nick right at the start. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton dropped back to eighth position after making a mistake while battling with his team-mate Fernando Alonso for third place. Consequently, Robert and Nick moved up to fifth and sixth places.

On lap seven, Nick was re-passed by Hamilton but one lap later, the Briton experienced a technical problem and slowed down for a short time, thus offering Nick the opportunity of moving back up to sixth place. At the same time, Robert passed Red Bull's Mark Webber for fourth position. Eight laps later, the Red Bull driver was forced into early retirement and Nick was right behind his team-mate once again, in fifth position.

After Robert's final pit stop on lap 59, the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers appeared to be on their way to finishing fourth (Nick) and sixth (Robert) respectively. On lap 61, however, fifth-placed Williams driver Nico Rosberg tried to pass Nick for fourth place while entering turn one. However, he was too fast, went wide and Nick had to brake hard to avoid a collision. This incident offered Robert the chance of taking fourth position ahead of Rosberg and Nick. On lap 65, Rosberg started putting Robert under pressure and on the penultimate lap the German passed the BMW Sauber F1 Team ace for fourth place.

However, the harm done to the BMW Sauber F1 Team was limited. By finishing fifth and sixth, Robert and Nick scored another seven World Championship points, thus breaking the 100-point barrier. The Brazilian GP marked a successful end to a great season.

The battle for the Drivers' Championship was won by Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen. Following Hamilton's early mistake and technical problem, Alonso held third place but was never able to match the pace of the Ferraris. To successfully defend his title the Spaniard needed a runner-up finish but was never in a position to pressurise Felipe Massa for second place. Still, the Scuderia always had to keep an eye on Lewis Hamilton. The Briton battled his way back up lap by lap and with six more laps remaining he held seventh position. Therefore, Räikkönen who took the lead from his team-mate couldn't ease off until the very end. However, when he finally crossed the line after 71 laps, the Finn was able to celebrate his maiden World Championship title.

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