Formula 1 news

Top ten qualifying on last BMW weekend

The BMW Sauber team is hoping to bow out of Formula One on a relative high after achieving a double top ten result in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday. With the manufacturer making its way out of the sport after this weekend and the squad now owned by Swiss investments firm Qadbak having not won a place on next year's grid, Kubica and Heidfeld lock out Row 4.

With BMW, widely predicted as pre-season title contenders before the start of 2009, having suffered a disastrous campaign in which the parent company announced that it was pulling the plug in July, Renault-bound Kubica leads the way with a grid slot of seventh at Yas Marina.

Kubica leads the charge for the departing BMW

"Unfortunately, I missed yesterday's second free practice session," Robert said, having suffered an engine failure on Friday. "As a result, I had no experience of the track conditions at this time of day; the conditions were completely different compared to the third free practice session - the lower temperatures had quite a big effect on the car's balance. In the end, qualifying in seventh is quite okay and I am optimistic that we can fight for points tomorrow."

"I think my eighth position is alright," Nick Heidfeld added. "On the last lap there was a small chance to improve but I had traffic with Mark Webber in front of me and, anyway, there is no guarantee that lap would have been faster. If I take the fuel load into account, I'm happy with my grid position although I only really know the fuel load for our cars."

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