Kubica 5th, Heidfeld 7th in Barcelona Qualy


By BMW Sauber F1 Team
May 12 2007

In qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Robert Kubica secured fifth position on the grid, thus out-qualifying his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, for the first time in 2007. The German finished seventh in an exciting session at Barcelona's "Circuit de Catalunya".

Both Nick and Robert easily advanced to the second knockout phase. The BMW Sauber F1 Team pairing went out seven minutes into the session, with each driver completing two flying laps. In the end, Nick finished fourth, setting a time of 1:21.625 minutes. Robert claimed seventh position after posting a 1:21.941-minute lap. The fastest time was recorded by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who lapped the 4.655-kilometre circuit in 1:21.120 minutes.

Eliminated: Ralf Schumacher, Alexander Wurz, Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil, Christijan Albers, Scott Speed.

Business as usual in the second knockout phase. Again, Nick and Robert qualified for the top-ten shootout in fine style. Nick completed just one flyer and crossed the line in 1:21.113 minutes to finish fifth. Robert, however, who set the eighth-fastest time (1:21.684 minutes) at his first attempt, went out for a second run on the softer compound in the closing stages. This time he posted a 1:21.381-minute lap and took sixth position. The fastest lap (1:20.713 minutes) was set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa (1:20.597 minutes).

Eliminated: Nico Rosberg, Rubens Barrichello, Takuma Sato, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, Vitantonio Liuzzi.

In the top-ten shootout, Robert secured fifth position on the grid, with Nick having to settle for seventh place. Following the first round of flying laps, Nick held fifth position with a 1:22.958-minute lap and he seemed to be on the way to consolidating this place when improving to 1:22.389 minutes in his second stint. However, in the very last seconds of the shootout he was passed by Robert (1:22.253 minutes) and Toyota's Jarno Trulli (1:22.324 minutes). Pole position was clinched by Ferrari's Felipe Massa (1:21.421 minutes).

Result: 1st Felipe Massa 2nd Fernando Alonso, 3rd Kimi Räikkönen, 4th Lewis Hamilton, 5th Robert Kubica, 6th Jarno Trulli, 7th Nick Heidfeld, 8th Heikki Kovalainen, 9th David Coulthard, 10th Giancarlo Fisichella.

Bookmark or share this story with: