Bahrain GP: Williams Sunday qualifying notes

Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber will start from the second and third rows respectively having qualified fourth and fifth for today's Bahrain Grand Prix. Nick equalled his best qualifying ever in F1 while Mark Webber improved his position from sixth to fifth from yesterday's first qualifying session.

Nick Heidfeld:

"I have equalled today my best ever qualifying position in Formula 1 and I am very pleased. Starting from the second row I am potentially much closer to a podium finish here than I was in Malaysia where I started tenth and managed to get into third place."

"We have a good car for the race and a good strategy. There's no doubt that our car has definitely taken a step forward with the new parts that we have introduced here."

Mark Webber:

"It is pretty harsh to expect the drivers to do a perfect lap on Sunday morning since fuel load, track and wind conditions - especially here - have changed since yesterday afternoon."

"Some of the corners were very good for me, some others less perfect, but all in all I had a fairly satisfying lap and I have improved one position from yesterday's qualifying."

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1):

"It was a good qualifying and both our drivers did a good job. Looking at the gap in front of Nick and Mark, I don't think they could have made that up. Now we look to see how the race goes in these extremely hot and testing ambient conditions."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Both of our drivers achieved a clean lap again in the second qualifying, with the cars in race conditions. Nick consolidated his fourth place whilst Mark has improved from sixth to fifth. They are both good positions to start the race from."

"Now the attention is on the temperature that should top what we had two weeks ago in Malaysia. This will drive both man and machine to the very limits."

Nick Heidfeld
4th, 3:03.217
Mark Webber
5th, 3:03.262

-williams-