British GP: BMW Sauber Saturday qualifying notes

For the ninth Grand Prix of the season both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers will start in the top ten. In Silverstone Robert Kubica claimed fifth on the grid for the British Grand Prix while his team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, was ninth.

Robert Kubica:

"This morning I didn't do a lot of running because of a gearbox problem. However, everything turned into better shape for me at the most important point of the weekend. Qualifying was good, in fact better than we expected and I had a good pace. We struggled yesterday with my set up, but we changed something for qualifying and it looks like this has made the difference."

"If I was joking I would say we were the first of the B championship. It looks like Ferrari and McLaren here are too far away to fight with them, but it is important to be there if someone has a failure and so we can gain positions."

Nick Heidfeld:

"Of course I am not happy. Ninth position is my worst qualifying result this season. I couldn't get the most out of the tyres - neither at the beginning of the lap nor towards the end when they started graining."

"The balance of my car wasn't bad. Compared to yesterday this had already improved for this morning's session, as we identified a set- up mistake we made yesterday. Naturally I hope some cars starting in front of me have to refuel before me, but you can never tell."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"During the third free practice this morning we had to change Robert's gearbox. The fact he lost no more than 20 minutes running time after such a major repair was due to a brilliant effort from the mechanics. To make up for some of the lost track time Robert did two outings in Q1. I am very pleased he made it to fifth position under these circumstances. Nick on the other hand didn't manage to get a perfect lap and will start from ninth. He will have an awful lot of work to do."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"All in all it is a good result. Again, for the ninth time this season, we managed to qualify both drivers in the top ten. We adapted Robert's programme after he lost some time in the morning session due to a gearbox problem, and based on this his performance was great. With fifth on the grid we can be very satisfied. Meanwhile Nick did not find a perfect lap in the last part of qualifying."

Robert Kubica
BMW Sauber F1.07-07/BMW P86/7
Qualifying: 5th, 1:20.401 min

Nick Heidfeld
BMW Sauber F1.07-05/BMW P86/7
Qualifying: 9th, 1:20.894 min

-credit: bmw sauber