Both BMW drivers use KERS in FP1, showing "ActiveHybrid"

By BMW Sauber F1
April 17 2009

In the first free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, the BMW Sauber F1 Team celebrated a first: For the first time this season, both BMW Sauber F1.09s were equipped with the new Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). Both cars also featured the slogan "ActiveHybrid" on the rear wing as Nick Heidfeld finished 16th and Robert Kubica 18th.

The morning session at Shanghai was held under blue skies but in rather cool conditions, with temperatures of barely reaching 18° C. Nick and Robert both set their personal best times early in the session. Nick proved to be the slightly busier and faster driver, the German completing a total of four stints totalling 21 laps. On his seventh lap he crossed the line in 1:38.456 minutes, thereby finishing 16th on the timesheets.

Robert made do with three stints comprising 18 laps. The Pole set his personal fastest lap time of 1:38.463 minutes on his ninth lap, thus being just seven-thousandths of a second slower than his team-mate and finishing 18th.

The BMW Sauber F1 Team once again focused on working on the set-up for the race on Sunday and evaluated the two different Bridgestone tyre options for the weekend, super-soft and medium.

In the second 90-minute practice session, beginning at 14:00hrs local time (07:00hrs BST), the BMW Sauber F1 Team will continue its preparations for the remainder of the weekend.