By BMW Sauber F1 Team
April 13 2007

The first free practice session for the Bahrain GP was contested by the BMW Sauber F1 Team GP regulars, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. As usual, the team used session one to focus on set-up work and tyre evaluations.
The Bahrain Grand Prix weekend started - as expected - in brilliant sunshine, with air temperatures of up to 31°C and track temperatures reaching 46°C. It was a busy session for both drivers, with Nick covering a slightly higher mileage than his team-mate. No other driver covered a higher mileage than the German, who completed 30 laps.

Nick was the first driver to go out for a timed lap of the 5.412-kilometre track. Over the course of the 90-minute session, he completed four stints. He set his personal fastest time of 1:35.076 minutes on the first timed lap of his fourth stint - a twelve-lap long-run on the softer of the two compounds available - and in the end, he finished sixth.

Robert's fourth and final stint on the softer compound was clearly shorter than Nick's. When the session was over, he had lapped the "Bahrain International Circuit" 24 times. Like Nick, the Pole set his personal fastest lap time of 1:35.248 minutes on the first timed lap of his final stint, on the softer compound, and finished seventh, directly behind his team-mate.

In the second free practice session, starting at 14:00hrs local time (12:00hrs BST), the BMW Sauber F1 Team will continue its preparations for the remainder of the weekend.