Formula 1

Brazilian GP: BMW Sauber race notes

The BMW Sauber F1 Team is celebrating taking fifth place in the constructors' world championship after the final race of the team's first season in Sao Paulo. However, neither driver was able to add to the overall points tally with Robert ...

Published: Oct 23, 2006, 5:20 PM

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The BMW Sauber F1 Team is celebrating taking fifth place in the constructors' world championship after the final race of the team's first season in Sao Paulo. However, neither driver was able to add to the overall points tally with Robert Kubica finishing ninth and Nick Heidfeld crashing into the barriers with six laps to go.

BMW has achieved many successes together with Michelin - in sports cars, touring cars, talent support programmes and in Formula One. BMW wants to thank Michelin for the successful partnership in F1 and looks forward to continuing together in other projects.

Robert Kubica:

"The race started okay and I overtook Nick on the first lap, but after ten laps we didn't have any more speed. I was driving as hard as I could and pushing but we were just too slow. This was our last race working with Michelin and I would like to thank everyone in the tyre company for their hard work and also to say grazie to Piero, my tyre technician."

Nick Heidfeld:

"It was a busy final race and I would have liked a better result for myself. My start was okay, but in the first corner it was extremely tight as Michael was on the inside and Ralf on my right side, but this situation worked out fine. Then in the fourth corner it was close between me and Robert and I felt something had happened to my front wing, but my speed was okay although I lost some positions and got stuck behind one stopper Pedro de la Rosa."

"After my first stop I got back on the track behind Vitantonio Liuzzi and tried to overtake him, but unfortunately we touched. With the damaged car I lost a lot of downforce, but the lap times were still okay. I then made two mistakes. In the first corner I went straight on and then slid off because I got on the marbles when I let Felipe Massa pass. At the end I think something broke on the car, which may have been caused by the earlier collision, and I crashed."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"Although missing scoring points by a small margin, in the last race in Sao Paulo we achieved our goals and claimed fifth place in the constructors' championship. We also took an engine for homologation for the next years across the finish line. All in all with the BMW Sauber F1 Team we achieved more than we could have expected in our debut year."

"We made it into the points 15 times and even scored two podium finishes. This means we are clearly ahead of our own targets. What makes me even happier is that during the season our team improved in comparison to our competitors - going forwards and not backwards. This is the best signal that the measures implemented in Munich and Hinwil strengthened our challenge. On the drivers' side, we are well prepared for the future."

"We are still in the middle of a two year ramp up phase, and in the coming season we want to take the next step and make it on the podium on our own merits. I would like to thank everybody in the team for their dedication and the work they have done. I am looking forward to the challenges that lay ahead of us in this project. We will take them together and I am convinced achieve them.

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"It was a race with a lot of incidents. After what happened in the beginning we thought something might have been damaged on Nick's car, but at the time everything was fine. Following Nick's collision with Liuzzi the radiator temperature went up and we pitted early for Nick's second stop. He received a new front nose as well as some other work on the car. We still have to investigate the reason for his crash. Robert in the early laps gained a few positions, despite a heavy fuel load. In his second stint he was slower than expected, therefore, he could not defend the positions he had gained.

Robert Kubica: 9th
Chassis/engine: BMW Sauber F1.06-09/BMW P86
Race Fastest Lap: 1.14:117s on lap 25 - 14th quickest

Nick Heidfeld: DNF
Chassis/engine: BMW Sauber F1.06-04/BMW P86
Race Fastest Lap: 1.14:163s on lap 18 - 15th quickest

-credit: bmw sauber

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