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Spanish GP: Friday Practice 1. BMW back to Europe
By BMW Sauber F1 Team April 25 2008
The BMW Sauber F1 Team contested the first practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix this morning at Barcelona. It was the 2008 season's first free practice session on European soil, and a successful one for both Robert and Nick. .

In the first clash with the competition of the European F1 season, the BMW Sauber F1 Team made a successful start to its Spanish GP weekend. By completing 20 and 24 laps respectively, Robert and Nick were among the busiest drivers in the 90-minute session. Furthermore, they did so without encountering any technical problems.

Robert's preparation programme differed from Nick's. The Pole improved stint by stint and set his personal best time of 1:21.568 minutes on his 16th lap. At the end of the session, this time was good enough to secure fourth position on the time sheets.

Nick, however, set his personal fastest far earlier, on his eighth timed lap. On the rather ‚green', and accordingly slow, track, he crossed the line in 1:22.278 minutes. At this point in time he held fourth position on the time sheets, but since he didn't improve in the remainder of the session, he subsequiently dropped back to finish ninth.

Surprisingly, the Spanish crowds witnessed a rare situation: for the top teams were among the first to go out and begin their practice work. Usually, they wait until the back markers have completed some laps, as you cannot gain a lot of significant data on a dirty track.

In the second free practice session, starting at 14:00hrs local time (13:00hrs BST), the BMW Sauber F1 Team will continue working on set-ups and evaluating the hard and medium tyre compounds provided by Bridgestone.

 

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