Formula 1 news

Slimmer Kubica celebrates pole

Robert Kubica lost six kilograms weight during the winter in a bid to give him more flexibility with his car set-up and extra speed. That paid off today as the Polish driver stormed to his and BMW Sauber's maiden pole position.

"We've seen that with a lighter driver I would go a bit quicker, so we decided to make an effort to reduce the weight from myself and the car and it was hard work for me, but I managed," Kubica said about his off-season weight-loss.

"After yesterday's good work on the set-up, we've developed quite well," he added. "In final qualifying I managed to do quite a good lap and take my first pole position. I started the lap pretty well, but in corner nine I locked the brakes and flat-spotted the tyre so had a lot of vibration and difficult last three corners, but still it was enough for pole."

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