Nick Heidfeld: "This was a fantastic start to the season for us. The
team was working extremely hard to solve the problems we had in the
beginning with the F1.08. We made constant progress and we have not
exploited the full potential of the car yet. At the start I had too
much wheel spin and could not keep Nico Rosberg behind me. I thought it
is going to become a difficult race because I expected him to pit
earlier. But we stopped on the same lap and our crew did a really great
job to get me in front of him. With my second pit stop I was lucky that
the safety car didn't come out earlier and I could refuel as planned.
In the last stint I had to take care not to kill the option tyres.
Overall the first race without traction control was less difficult than
expected."
Robert Kubica: "My race went pretty well in the beginning. I was on a
similar strategy to Nick and I had a good pace. Then the strategy was
changed and this did not pay off for me. I got stuck behind Bourdais
and lost a lot of time. I still had a chance to score some points, but
then at the end of the third safety car period Nakajima crashed into
the rear of my car and I had to stop."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "This was a fantastic start
to the new season for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. In a turbulent race with
three safety car periods and numerous retirements, Nick kept cool and
finished second, achieving the first podium of the season for the team.
Only Lewis Hamilton was quicker. This was a real strategy game. Nick
was somewhat lucky with the safety car periods, Robert was
unfortunately unlucky. Towards the end, Nakajima pushed him off the
track. Up to this point he had driven a strong race after his fantastic
qualifying yesterday. Together with our qualifying performance on
Saturday, this is a good basis for the next races. This was a
motivation boost for the whole team. A big thank you to all our
colleagues in Munich and Hinwil."
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "This was an exciting race which
generated mixed feelings. It's fantastic that Nick clinched second
place, but at the same time I'm sorry for Robert who had an unlucky
race. At the start Nick was overtaken by Nico Rosberg, but thanks to
the fantastic work of the pit crew, he was able to overtake him in the
pits. From that moment on he drove a fast and consistent pace. He
finally benefitted from the third safety car period, and equalled the
best result of the team so far. We changed Robert's strategy during the
second safety car period, but unfortunately he got stuck behind
Bourdais and lost a lot of time. After Nakajima had crashed into the
rear of his car, he stopped for safety reasons."
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