7 & 8th in Monaco Qualy, a disappointment for BMW

By BMW Sauber F1 Team
May 26 2007

In qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica secured seventh and eighth positions on the grid. Making it an all BMW fourth row turned out to be a slight disappointment as the pairing had been third and fourth in the second knockout phase. However, the chances of a strong race result are still alive.

 In the first knockout phase of the Monaco qualifying session, the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers proved to be the true icemen of Formula One. Both Nick and Robert went out in the first five minutes of the 15-minute session to complete a five-lap stint each.

 They improved lap by lap, with Robert setting a personal fastest lap of 1:17.385 minutes, thus being fractions faster than Nick (1:17.584 minutes). For the time being the pairing held fifth and sixth positions before returning to the pits. While the entire field went out for a second stint in the closing stages, Nick and Robert kept their cool and remained in their garages. Their lap times were fast enough. They subsequently finished tenth and eleventh, thus advancing to leg two. The fastest time (1:15.059 minutes) was set by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Eliminated: Anthony Davidson, Scott Speed, Adrian Sutil, Ralf Schumacher, Takuma Sato, Christijan Albers.

In the second knockout phase, the BMW Sauber F1 Team delivered an extremely strong performance. Both Robert and Nick were the last two drivers to go out for their first assault and both completed two fast laps. Despite having secured third and fourth positions, the pairing came in fresh sets of the supersoft tyres and went out for another run. Both managed to improve. Robert secured third position with a 1:15.676-minute lap, while Nick claimed fourth place posting a time of 1:15.733 minutes. The fastest lap (1:15.431 minutes) was set by McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

Eliminated: David Coulthard, Alexander Wurz, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen, Kimi Räikkönen.

In the top-ten shootout, Nick and Robert secured seventh and eighth positions on the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix. In their first run on a fresh set of tyres they suffered some bad luck as there was a slight drizzle in the Rascasse corner which hampered them as they attempted to set fast lap times. Both came in for a second set of tyres and improved again. At the end of the day, Nick's 1:16.832-minute lap meant seventh position for the German, while Robert had to settle for eighth place after recording a time of 1:16.955 minutes. McLaren's Fernando Alonso clinched pole position (1:15.726 minutes).

Result: 1st Fernando Alonso, 2nd Lewis Hamilton, 3rd Felipe Massa, 4th Giancarlo Fisichella, 5th Nico Rosberg, 6th Mark Webber, 7th Nick Heidfeld, 8th Robert Kubica, 9th Rubens Barrichello, 10th Jenson Button.