Formula 1

Turkish GP: BMW Sauber race notes

For the seventh time this season and the fifth time in a row the BMW Sauber F1 Team finished with both cars in the points. Nick Heidfeld was fourth in the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul and Robert Kubica eighth. Nick Heidfeld: "I am very happy ...

Edited: Aug 27, 2007, 3:48 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

For the seventh time this season and the fifth time in a row the BMW Sauber F1 Team finished with both cars in the points. Nick Heidfeld was fourth in the Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul and Robert Kubica eighth.

Nick Heidfeld:

"I am very happy about this result, as the team did a fantastic job. The race strategy, the tyre choice and the pit stops - everything worked perfectly. We made the most out of everything. The start especially was great fun. As the lights went out it wasn't so good, because I was on the dirty side, but then I was able to overtake the others on the outside. I was braking very late for turn one and, once again, I came very close to Fernando Alonso."

"Of course I dreamt I could keep him behind me over the distance, but we knew he would refuel later than me. After the stop he was in front of me and he was also faster. I pushed very hard for the whole race, and only in the very last laps I felt a little less pressure."

Robert Kubica:

"It was a very hard race and I just hadn't got enough speed. Also when I was lighter in the first stint I could not build up a big enough gap. Every time I pitted someone was overtaking me. I did not have enough speed throughout the whole race, and this also meant I was not able to overtake. I suppose my problems were a bit of everything and I just found the car difficult to drive."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):

"For our team it was a mixed result. For Nick our strategy worked. Without technical problems and without a slower car in front of him he was able to run his race as planned. For Robert we decided before qualifying to try a different strategy. We wanted to give him the chance with a short first stint and soft tyres to attack the front runners, but soon after qualifying we figured out, even with a lower fuel load, the expected times would not be possible. "

"Beside that, in the race he was unlucky both times when he came out after his pit stops - the first time he was right behind Heikki Kovalainen and the second Nico Rosberg. Six points for our team is good."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):

"It is good to collect another six points, but actually we expected a bit more. For Robert our aggressive strategy didn't work but, if you consider our situation in the Constructors' World Championship, you have to take a risk from time to time. Nick had a good start although he was on the dirty side of the track. He was consistently fast, fulfilled our expectations and took our 'reserved' fourth place. After this hot race we are looking forward to the Italian Grand Prix on the high speed Monza track."

Nick Heidfeld: 4th
BMW Sauber F1.07-08/BMW P86/7
Fastest Lap: 1:28.319 min on lap 39 (5th fastest overall)

Robert Kubica: 8th
BMW Sauber F1.07-03/BMW P86/7
Fastest Lap: 1:28.918 min on lap 11 (11th fastest overall)

-credit: bmw sauber

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Turkish GP results

Next article Turkish GP: Bridgestone race notes

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

1 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

6 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 6 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

6 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Feature

Discover prime content

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

Formula 1

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Why Oscar Piastri has struggled to show his best with this year's McLaren MCL40

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How levelling the playing field isn’t antithetical to the principles of F1

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Formula 1

Singapore GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

Lights, Camara, action: How Haas picked F1's latest rookie for 2027

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Formula 1

By Kevin Turner

Employing team orders can simply be a matter of common sense

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts