By BMW Sauber F1 Team
April 18 2009

The qualifying session for the Chinese Grand Prix proved to be the most difficult for the BMW Sauber F1 Team since the 2006 German GP. Robert Kubica was eliminated as early as Q1 and had to settle for finishing 18, while Nick qualified 11th, thereby also missing the top-ten qualifying session.

In Q1 for the Chinese Grand Prix, only Nick advanced to the second knockout phase. On his second run the German set a 1:36.525 minute lap to finish 12th and thereby make it to phase two. Robert's qualifying effort, however, came to an early end. During his second run the Pole crossed the line in 1:36.966 minutes and had to make do with 18th. "It was okay on the mediums," said Robert after the first knockout phase of qualifying. "But I just couldn't find enough grip on the super softs." The fastest time in Q1 (1:35.533 minutes) was clocked by Brawn GP's Jenson Button.

Eliminated: Sébastien Bourdais, Nelson Piquet, Robert Kubica, Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella.

The second knockout phase of qualifying put an end to the BMW Sauber F1 Team's hopes of securing a top-ten grid position as Nick failed to advance to the top-ten shootout. On his first timed lap, the 31-year-old secured provisional seventh position by crossing the line in 1:35.975 minutes. His rivals, however, improved later on while Nick failed to better his time. He subsequently dropped back to 11th. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel clocked the fastest lap time of the session in 1:35.130 minutes.

Eliminated: Nick Heidfeld, Heikki Kovalainen, Felipe Massa, Timo Glock and Kazuki Nakajima.

In the top-ten shootout, Vettel secured the second pole position of his career with a 1:36.184 minute lap. Second position was clinched by Renault's Fernando Alonso, with Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber finishing third.

Result: 1st Sebastian Vettel, 2nd Fernando Alonso, 3rd Mark Webber, 4th Rubens Barrichello, 5th Jenson Button, 6th Jarno Trulli, 7th Nico Rosberg, 8th Kimi Räikkönen, 9th Lewis Hamilton, 10th Sébastien Buemi.