Brazilian Grand Prix - Qualifying,
Weather: Hot and sunny, 29-32°C Air, 53-60°C Track.
In a sudden change of weather conditions to hot and sunny,
the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers qualified for the Brazilian
Grand Prix at the Interlagos circuit with Nick Heidfeld sixth
and Robert Kubica seventh. This result means in only the team’s
second season both cars have made it into the top ten in qualifying
for every race. In the final free practice bad luck hit Kubica
when his car stopped on the track with a throttle problem
after just 14 laps. Over the lunch break the team changed
the relevant electrics on his F1.07.
Nick Heidfeld: BMW Sauber F1.07-08 / BMW
P86/7 Qualifying 6th, 1.13.081 min (3rd practice: 7th, 1.12.579
min) “I’m extremely happy. My penultimate lap
wasn’t bad and the final one was simply great. In qualifying
two I was close to missing the top ten, and this was because
I had a big slide and almost spun in turn 6. Right up to the
last session of qualifying I had the impression this time
we might have gone in the wrong direction with the car’s
set-up. It would have been an exception because normally we
are very good in this. In the end the car felt better again
and I think the track conditions also helped.”
Robert Kubica: BMW Sauber F1.07-03 / BMW
P86/7 (T-Car F1.07.04) Qualifying 7th, 1.13,129 min (3rd Practice:
20th, 1.13.525 min) “It could have been better, but
unfortunately on the last lap I had Fernando Alonso in front
of me. He let me by, but I had to take a different line which
meant my tyres picked up dirt. In the last corner I was quicker
but when braking I locked the front wheel, went straight and
lost a lot of time. The race will certainly be hard for the
tyre.“
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
“As in all 16 races before in the 2007 season we managed
to get both cars into the top ten in qualifying. This is a
strong and consistent performance, but we are not totally
happy with today’s result. Nick’s lap times in
the first two qualifying sessions weren’t good, and
he only just managed to get into Q3, but in this session with
a very strong last lap he finished a very good sixth. With
Robert it worked the other way round: In Q1 and Q2 he was
fast and matching the front runners, but then in his decisive
run in Q3 he lost seven tenths of a second in corner twelve
and two possible grid positions.”
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): “We
are very happy that we made it into the top ten of qualifying
for the 17th time in the 17th and final race of the season.
The track conditions in the afternoon didn’t compare
to those from the morning, especially in terms of grip level
and balance. Nick had a hard time in Q1 and Q2 until he found
the right balance in Q3 and took sixth place. Robert had a
strong Q1 and Q2, and was also good on the first two sectors
of his fast lap in Q3 until he lost important fractions of
a second due to an overtaking manoeuvre. However, qualifying
positions six and seven should give us good chances in the
race.”
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