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BMW Sauber struggles in Fuji Quali: 6th and 16th
By BMW Sauber F1 Team October 11 2008
In qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, Robert Kubica secured sixth position on the grid, thus securing a promising position from which to score further World Championship points. Nick Heidfeld, however, had to settle for qualifying 16th .
For both Robert and Nick, the first knockout phase of qualifying proved to be difficult. Robert and Nick both failed to confirm the competitiveness displayed in the third practice session, with Nick failing to advance to Q2. While Robert finished 14th, with a personal best time of 1:18.684 minutes, thus just making it to the second knockout phase, the German had to settle for 16th, with a personal fastest lap time of 1:18.835 minutes. "Both Robert and Nick encountered problems when it came to getting the tyres up to working temperature," explained BMW Sauber F1 Team test and reserve driver Christian Klien. While BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen revealed: "We believed that the harder compound would be fast enough as the difference between the two compounds hadn't been that big, so far. Unfortunately, this was different, now." The fastest lap time of Q1 (1:17.945 minutes) was set by Toyota's Timo Glock.

Eliminated: Nick Heidfeld, Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella.

As in Q1, advancing to the next phase of qualifying once again proved to be a demanding task for Robert, but again, the Pole succeeded in doing so. In the close battle for top-ten positions, Robert kept his cool. He temporarily held seventh position following his first run and on his second he set a personal best time of 1:17.931 minutes to finish ninth and make it to the top-ten shootout. With a 1:17.287-minute lap, Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the quickest in Q2.

Eliminated: David Coulthard, Nelson Piquet, Mark Webber, Kazuki Nakajima, Nico Rosberg.

In the Top-Ten Qualifying, Robert delivered in fine style. Suddenly, the problems encountered in the first two knockout phases of qualifying seemed to be solved and the BMW Sauber F1.08 was back at its usual level of competitiveness. The BMW Sauber F1 Team driver made perfect use of the situation and crossed the line in 1:18.979 minutes to secure sixth position on the grid. At the end of the day, he was just 1.5 tenths of a second slower than McLaren's third placed Heikki Kovalainen and a tenth slower than Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Pole position was secured by McLaren's World Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, while his rival in the title race, Felipe Massa, had to settle for fifth.

Result: 1st Lewis Hamilton, 2nd Kimi Räikkönen, 3rd Heikki Kovalainen, 4th Fernando Alonso, 5th Felipe Massa, 6th Robert Kubica, 7th Jarno Trulli, 8th Timo Glock, 9th Sebastian Vettel, 10th Sébastien Bourdais.

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