Prac 3 - Nick And Robert Secure Top-Four Positions

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
April 14 2007

Heidfeld and Kubica secure top-four positions in the final practice session at Sakhir. Nick took 3rd place on the timesheets, whilst Robert was close behind in 4th.

In the final free practice session for the Bahrain GP, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica delivered another convincing performance, finishing third and fourth respectively. The team is well-prepared for qualifying and Sunday's race.

For quite a while, Nick and Robert both focused on completing their preparation programmes without paying heed to the lap times. In the closing stages of the session, however, both underlined the competitiveness of the BMW Sauber F1.07.

Nick, who completed three stints comprising 15 laps, was the first of the pairing to go out on the softer compound. On his first flying lap of the stint, he crossed the line in 1:32.893 minutes to take the provisional lead, and on his second he improved, this time by setting a 1:32.652-minute lap.

"I feel very confident", the German said afterwards. "We have made some changes since yesterday and these changes seem to have been a step in the right direction. The situation is still the same, with Ferrari being the quickest and McLaren close behind, but clearly we are a bit closer to them than we were in Malaysia."

Robert also delivered in fine style. The Pole, who completed three stints totalling 15 laps, went out two minutes after his team-mate and crossed the line in 1:32.765 minutes, just a tenth of a second behind to take provisional second position on the time sheets. In the final minutes of the session, on a continuously improving track, the pairing was only beaten by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton (1:32.543 minutes) and Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen (1:32.549 minutes).

Following this impressive performance, Nick and Robert will be a factor when it comes to battling for the top-six positions in the qualifying session, from 14:00hrs local time (12:00hrs BST).