06/09/2008
NEWS STORY
Nick Heidfeld qualified fifth for the Belgian Grand Prix while his team-mate in the BMW Sauber F1 Team, Robert Kubica, was eighth fastest at Spa- Francorchamps. The entire session was in dry conditions.
Nick Heidfeld: I'm happy with the qualifying result, and for me the weekend has gone well so far. It wasn't bad on Friday, this morning I was quickest and fifth was the best possible result in qualifying. For me it is very important to know the work we have done has paid off. A couple of weeks ago we found solutions to some problems, and for me this meant an improvement, but then came the race in Valencia which was surprisingly bad. Then at last week's Monza test we were able to learn something more. I have the feeling we are a little closer to McLaren and Ferrari here. However, I think in the race it will be very difficult for us to keep up with their pace. Tomorrow the weather conditions will be an important factor and a good start for me will be crucial. I will start from the clean side of the track.
Robert Kubica: Qualifying was difficult for me although the conditions were the best so far over the course of the weekend. The track was completely dry, but I have had problems with the balance of the car all weekend and I am lacking overall grip. This makes driving quite difficult, especially here in Spa where you have a lot of long corners.
Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): I'm satisfied with today's performance. We obviously didn't have the right basic set-up yesterday, and, with the changing weather conditions, it was not easy to get it right. However, we saw this morning we were able to make a significant step forward. Nick confirmed this in qualifying with both low and high fuel loads. He is now in a strong position for the race. For Robert things were just not right this weekend, and in qualifying he wasn't able to put in a perfect lap.
Willy Rampf (Technical Director): Although we struggled yesterday to find the right set-up, today we managed to get both cars safely into Q3. Nick in particular has made a big step forward since yesterday and he was very strong in qualifying. Robert struggled with the car's set-up in all the practice sessions, and sector 2 was particularly difficult for him. I think we are well prepared for the race. Now we have to see what the other teams' strategies are.