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08 Race Review: 9 points in Istambul for BMW
By BMW Sauber F1 Team
December 5 2008
While the BMW Sauber F1 Team was beside the Bosporus displaying its Pit Lane Park for the first time this season, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld continued piling up the points on the race track. Despite not everything going to plan in qualifying, the two drivers extracted the maximum possible from the "Istanbul Speed Park".
Just what the F1.08 was capable of on the challenging circuit situated in the Asiatic quarter of Istanbul was proven by Robertduring the second qualifying segment on Saturday. Just 79 thousands of a second separated the Pole from the best time set by Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) - and thatin a qualifying leg during which the cars are low on fuel in orderto extract their maximum performance.

During the crucial Fina segment neither Robert nor Nick were able to fight for pole position. "My impression is that the tyres played a decisive role," explained BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. "Both during the one-hour qualifying session and in terms of the weight distribution of the cars we saw some varying tyre performances." Robert had to be satisfied with fifth, while Nick prepared himself for a difficult race from ninth.

At the start of the Turkish Grand Prix both drivers made it abundantly clear they were not satisfied with their positions. Robert immediately moved up to third, while team-mate Nick also moved up a position. Once again the pit crew performed excellently, which was to prove the team's trump card, when Nick, who scored another place when McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen fell back, passed both Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Mark Webber (Red Bull) during his stop. Thus Nick was fifth, which place he successfully defended through to the end.

During the opening laps Robert fought a thrilling duel with Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari); he was, though, forced to cede to the world champion during his first stop, thereby dropping from third to fourth. After 58 laps the 23-year-old driver crossed the line 21.945 seconds adrift of eventual race winner Felipe Massa (Ferrari).

A host of enthusiastic fans followed the race from the "Bostanci Otopark", where the BMW SauberF1 Team Pit Lane Park celebrated its season debut. Under the motto "Get Closer", the impressive new double-storey theme park contains numerous new displays aimed at bringing even visitors even closer to Formula One in 2008. "Here visitors are able to touch hi-tech components with their own hands, receive insights into the work of our engineers and are able to experience how our engines are started and how the cars react out on the race track," believes Mario Theissen. "Never before have fans been able to get so close to Formula One." In 2007 alone approximately 300,000 visitors took the opportunity of getting fascinatingly close to motorsport's premier category.

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