29/07/2006
NEWS STORY
The second home Grand Prix of the year in Germany will be tough for the BMW Sauber F1 Team as Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld qualified 14th and 16th respectively.
Jacques Villeneuve: We knew we would not be that quick, but this was disappointing as that was a mistake free lap. The balance of the car was good, the set-up of the car was good but I just could not go any faster. We improved the car a lot overnight. However, we still definitely need to work on the engine and the chassis.
Nick Heidfeld: I was hoping for a bit more from today, but I didn't expect us to make it into the top ten. Currently we are just not fast enough, and at the same time the Bridgestone tyres have become stronger. My car had slight oversteer, but in general it was okay. I discovered the tyres work better on their second lap and that is why I didn't drive on the limit on my first flying lap.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): Qualifying confirmed the impression we got after today's free practice: we are not fast enough here. Obviously the restrictions on our aerodynamics have penalised us and dropped us back, but we will continue on our development work in this area. But first of all we will focus on the race. We now have the opportunity to adapt the race strategy and decide what fuel loads we will start with.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): We are obviously disappointed with this result, but after this morning's free practice it didn't come as a surprise. With our starting positions we will have a difficult race. To make the best of the situation we have to choose the right strategy and hope our drivers make good starts, as they have done recently.
To check out our Hockenheim qualifying gallery, click here