By BMWF1Talk
March 28 2009

For the BMW Sauber F1 Team, qualifying for the 2009 Australian GP proved to be a session of mixed emotions. While Robert Kubica secured fourth position on the grid, Nick Heidfeld had to settle for eleventh. The massive regulation changes made for an unusual starting grid, most notably pole-sitting sensation Jenson Button (Brawn GP).

 In the first leg of the qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, Nick and Robert easily advanced to the second knockout phase. Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers went out around nine minutes into the session for their first run. Everybody completed multi-lap runs and improved lap by lap. Nonetheless, Nick and Robert both pitted for the super-soft tyres with five laps completed and set their personal best times on the first timed lap of their second runs. Nick crossed the line in 1:25.827 minutes to finish fifth, while Robert secured ninth with his 1:25.922-minute lap. Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello was the fastest driver of leg one (1:25.006 minutes).

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

For Robert, advancing to the top-ten qualifying wasn't a problem. On his tenth lap, the Pole crossed the line in 1:25.152 minutes to finish fifth and easily qualify for the final phase of the first qualifying session of the 2009 season. For Nick, however, the second knockout phase meant the end of his hopes for a top-ten grid position. The German carried out two runs, setting a personal best time of 1:25.504 minutes on his second, consequently having to settle for eleventh. The fastest time, a 1:24.783-minute lap, was again set by Barrichello.

Eliminated: Nick Heidfeld, Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton.

In the top-ten shootout, Robert delivered in great style and demonstrated that the BMW Sauber F1.09 has what it takes to battle it out at the front end of the grid. On his second run, the BMW Sauber F1 Team driver set a 1:26.914-minute lap to secure fourth, less than a tenth of a second behind Red Bull's third-placed Sebastian Vettel. Pole position was clinched by Brawn GP's Jenson Button (1:26.202 minutes), followed by his team-mate Rubens Barrichello.

Result: 1st Jenson Button, 2nd Rubens Barrichello, 3rd Sebastian Vettel, 4th Robert Kubica, 5th Nico Rosberg, 6th Timo Glock, 7th Felipe Massa, 8th Jarno Trulli, 9th Kimi Räikkönen, 10th Mark Webber.

Times of Qualifying:

Pos  Driver        	Team                      	Q1        	Q2        	Q3         Laps
 1.    Button       	Brawn-Mercedes	1:25.211  	1:24.855  	1:26.202 19
 2.    Barrichello 	Brawn-Mercedes	1:25.006  	1:24.783  	1:26.505 21
 3.    Vettel        	Red Bull-Renault 	1:25.938  	1:25.121  	1:26.830 21
 4.    Kubica      	BMW-Sauber      	1:25.922  	1:25.152  	1:26.914 19
 5.    Rosberg    	Williams-Toyota       1:25.846  	1:25.123  	1:26.973 21
 6.    Glock       	Toyota                	1:25.499  	1:25.281  	1:26.975 19
 7.    Massa      	Ferrari               	1:25.844  	1:25.319  	1:27.033 21
 8.    Trulli         	Toyota                	1:26.194  	1:25.265  	1:27.127 20
 9.    Raikkonen   	Ferrari               	1:25.899  	1:25.380  	1:27.163 21
10.   Webber      	Red Bull-Renault      1:25.427  	1:25.241  	1:27.246 20
11.   Heidfeld    	BMW-Sauber            1:25.827  	1:25.504                 14
12.   Alonso      	Renault               	1:26.026  	1:25.605                 12
13.   Nakajima    	Williams-Toyota       1:26.074  	1:25.607                 16
14.   Kovalainen  	McLaren-Mercedes    1:26.184  	1:25.726                 15
15.   Hamilton    	McLaren-Mercedes    1:26.454  	no time                   5
16.   Buemi       	Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.503                                 10
17.   Piquet      	Renault               	  1:26.598                                 12
18.   Fisichella  	Force India-Mercedes 1:26.677                                 10
19.   Sutil       	Force India-Mercedes        1:26.742                                 9
20.   Bourdais    	Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1:26.964                                 10