Spanish Grand Prix. 25th – 27th April 2008
4th of 18 World Championship races
Preview. The BMW Sauber F1 Team has barely
embarked on its third season and is already heading for its
first Formula One grand prix as the leader of the constructors’
championship. In the first three World Championship races
of the 2008 season, the team was on the podium each time (two
second places and a third), had its first pole position (Robert
Kubica/Bahrain) and set its first fastest race lap (Nick Heidfeld/Malaysia).
With 30 points, the BMW Sauber F1 Team is one ahead of Ferrari
and two of McLaren Mercedes. During the brief spring break
all the teams have been upgrading their cars in preparation
for the European curtain-raiser in Barcelona on 27th April.
The Spanish Grand Prix on the impressive, but unforgiving,
Circuit de Catalunya could prompt a reappraisal of where the
teams stand relative to one another.
Nick Heidfeld: “The Spanish Grand
Prix has its own special ambience because the stands are now
regularly packed to the rafters. The fans ensure a brilliant
atmosphere, which we as drivers pick up on to some extent
as well.
“Although I have already clocked up hundreds of race
and test laps on the Circuit de Catalunya, boredom just doesn’t
come into it. It has often been the case that a set-up determined
during testing was no longer the right one for the race weekend.
That could be due to the weather or to the condition of the
track, which naturally accumulates much more rubber deposits
over a grand prix weekend than during testing.
“Now the question everybody wants to hear the answer
to is: how well are the new components, with which we’ve
modified the BMW Sauber F1.08 since the initial overseas races,
going to work? I’m also very keen to see whether we
have made more progress with our new developments than the
competition. At any rate, I’m confident that we will
be just as strong as in Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain.”
Robert Kubica: “I think we will have
a more predictable race than the first three overseas grands
prix. The conditions this time round are completely different.
All the teams know the Barcelona circuit like the back of
their hands because we do a lot of testing here. That’s
why I expect the gaps between the teams to become a lot smaller
than in the last races.
“Everyone will be coming to the season’s first
European grand prix on top form. I guess all the teams will
be lining up with an improved car. But at the same time that
means we also have to get the maximum out of the BMW Sauber
F1.08. If we manage that, and since the latest test in Barcelona
I am firmly convinced we will, I’ll be racing right
up at the front again. My goal is to achieve a good result
to earn as many points as possible for myself and the team.”
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