Bahrain GP: Race notes - BMW

15/04/2007

In the third world championship round of the season the BMW Sauber F1 Team equaled its best race result so far by finishing fourth and sixth. Nick Heidfeld improved from fifth on the grid to finish the race in fourth, and scored five points for the team for the third consecutive race. Robert Kubica finished sixth to collect his first points of the year. The last time the team scored eight points in a race was in the Australian Grand Prix in 2006.

Nick Heidfeld: I feel fantastic. Currently I have a good car, a good team, I can drive good races and I really enjoy this. Before the race I didn't think I could overtake Fernando, but in the second stint I was a bit quicker than him because I had one more set of fresh tyres than him. On the other hand, Fernando had the better top speed. I had to wait until he made a mistake, which he did in corner 13. For the team it is extremely important that both cars finished the race and scored points. I think here we were even stronger than in Malaysia, which is surprising as our car has not changed in the past week. Obviously the track suited us and I had a very good set-up.

Robert Kubica: All in all this has been a very positive weekend for me and the team. This is my first time in the points this season, so I am happy to finish, happy to score these points and I know we will get there. Unfortunately the flap over the fuel filler wouldn't close and you lose quite a lot of downforce with this. I was losing time in the high speed corners and under braking. It opened at the beginning of the race and there was no way we could fix it. The good thing is the pace is there, the reliability is almost there and so now we will look forward to see what we can do in Barcelona.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): This was the strongest performance of the BMW Sauber F1 Team so far. Not only did we score eight points, but Nick's fourth place is really a special one. We were able to match the pace of the top cars and Nick was even able to overtake World Champion Fernando Alonso on the track. Unfortunately an open fuel filler cover disturbed the aerodynamics of Robert's car, but also for him I am very pleased he scored his first points of the season. At the end of the day the third race of the season was another step forward for the team.

Willy Rampf (Technical Director): This was the best race for our young team. Right from the start we were able to match the pace of the top teams. Nick's overtaking manouevre was, of course, a true highlight. A big compliment to the entire crew here in Bahrain, especially for the pit stops which were excellent. Also a big compliment to the teams in Hinwil and Munich who gave us the equipment to achieve such a strong performance.

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