27/08/2006
NEWS STORY
The best starting positions of the year – fifth and eighth – gave the BMW Sauber F1 Team confidence that it could score points today but it left Istanbul empty handed. The tyre choice for Robert Kubica was the wrong one and the best he could achieve was 12th. Nick Heidfeld was the victim of a first corner incident, which caused him to pit for a new nose, and his race was effectively over so the best he could do was finish 14th.
Robert Kubica: My start was quite okay, but at the first corner Giancarlo Fisichella spun so I had to go wide with Rubens Barrichello and lost a lot of positions. I was then able to overtake some drivers but the Safety Car came out and we changed tyres. The second stint, like the first, was not that bad, although there was too much graining on the tyres. On the first lap of the last stint the tyres were already graining and the pace was massively too slow. It was our choice but this time it didn't work. It was not all bad, as when the tyres were working I had some good fights and that was okay for my second race in Formula 1.
Nick Heidfeld: I had a super start, especially in direct comparison to Giancarlo Fisichella, as everyone knows this is something the Renaults are very good at. I also went into the first corner well on the inside, but then Fisichella spun and hit the front of my car. On the way back to the pits the wing got stuck under my car, which meant I had no grip and also the floor was damaged. On top of this the rear tyre damaged the rear wing, the balance of the car was ruined and I lost the grip.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): With our grid positions, we expected both cars to be in the points, therefore, this result is very disappointing. In the first corner after Giancarlo Fisichella spun Nick lost his front wing, and on his way back to the garage his car's floor was damaged - with all of this his race was over. For Robert the tyres were the decisive factor. We took a risk but it didn't pay off, and this was especially so with his third set as they only stopped graining at the end of the race. This cost him a place in the points.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): After his collision in the first corner Nick lost any chance of a good result. The front wing, the rear right tyre and the floor were all badly damaged. Nick had to cope for the rest of the race with a badly balanced car, but made the best of the situation. Robert had earned himself a good grid position, but lost positions during the Safety Car period. At the end of the day the reason for his lack of pace was due to our decison to use the softer tyre compound, and it was not the right one for Robert.
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