Formula One news

BMW content after another tough day

The BMW Sauber team was satisfied after receiving no unexpected results in Bahrain, although the two cars are still lacking pace at the last 'flyaway' race weekend before returning to Europe in a fortnight. Robert Kubica, the heaviest car on the grid, lines up thirteenth with team-mate Nick Heidfeld starting just behind.

"We already knew before qualifying that it would be difficult today," said Kubica, whose 13th was in stark contrast to claiming his first pole position in Bahrain last year. "We lack overall performance," he went on. "In qualifying two I struggled with the grip of the new option tyres (Super Soft). Additionally, our radio didn't work today so, as a result, it was quite hard to fine-tune tyre pressures and stuff like that." Equally, the Pole was not helped by two separate fires when coming in to refuel which cost time as opposed to performance.

"This was quite a difficult qualifying for us," Heidfeld admitted, whose best grid position at Sakhir to date is fourth with Williams in 2005. "A lack of pace is obvious and, as we are waiting for our aerodynamic update for Barcelona, it's clear we lose lap time in comparison to competitors who already have new parts," he continued. "At least we knew this before qualifying. Also today, the car's balance between the runs was very inconsistent; on my second run in Q2 I was quicker than on my first of that session, but not as quick as in Q1- I was really fighting hard and missed the apex at turn nine. It seems unlikely that we can collect points tomorrow, but we will certainly not give up and will try everything."

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