By BMW Sauber F1 Team
July 9 2007
For the ninth Grand Prix of the season both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers will start in the top ten. In Silverstone Robert Kubica claimed fifth on the grid for the British Grand Prix while his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, was ninth. Lewis Hamilton secured pole in front of his home crowd.
Robert Kubica: "This morning I didn't do a lot of running because of a
gearbox problem. However, everything turned into better shape for me at the
most important point of the weekend. Qualifying was good, in fact better than
we expected and I had a good pace. We struggled yesterday with my set up, but
we changed something for qualifying and it looks like this has made the
difference. If I was joking I would say we were the first of the B
championship. It looks like Ferrari and McLaren here are too far away to fight
with them, but it is important to be there if someone has a failure and so we
can gain positions"
Nick Heidfeld: "Of course I am not happy. Ninth position is my worst
qualifying result this season. I couldn't get the most out of the tyres -
neither at the beginning of the lap nor towards the end when they started
graining. The balance of my car wasn't bad. Compared to yesterday this had
already improved for this morning's session, as we identified a set-up mistake
we made yesterday. Naturally I hope some cars starting in front of me have to
refuel before me, but you can never tell."
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): "During the third free practice
this morning we had to change Robert's gearbox. The fact he lost no more than
20 minutes running time after such a major repair was due to a brilliant effort
from the mechanics. To make up for some of the lost track time Robert did two
outings in Q1. I am very pleased he made it to fifth position under these
circumstances. Nick on the other hand didn't manage to get a perfect lap and
will start from ninth. He will have an awful lot of work to do."
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): "All in all it is a good result. Again,
for the ninth time this season, we managed to qualify both drivers in the top
ten. We adapted Robert's programme after he lost some time in the morning
session due to a gearbox problem, and based on this his performance was great.
With fifth on the grid we can be very satisfied. Meanwhile Nick did not find a
perfect lap in the last part of qualifying."
