Formula One news

Top ten for Heidfeld, Kubica's qualifying ruined by red flags

BMW Sauber's qualifying was a story of what could have been. With red flags ruining the flying laps of Robert Kubica on three occasions, the team just didn't look destined for two top ten grid slots for Sunday's Grand Prix.

It was Nick Heidfeld however; who qualified sixth on the grid for Sunday's Suzuka Grand Prix and admitted his surprise at a strong result in a "very strange" session. ". I had a really good lap in Q3. I wasn't too optimistic for qualifying because in free practice this morning I struggled, so I'm happy with my qualifying performance."

Robert Kubica's qualifying runs seemed to coincide perfectly with each of the three red flags in qualifying and resulted in P13 for him. "My qualifying was totally disappointing. All my flying laps in the second session were destroyed by flags. In the entire fifteen minutes we were not able to do one quick timed lap. Suzuka is a fantastic track but overtaking isn't too easy here."

Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld and BMW Sauber team expressed their hope that former BMW test driver Timo Glock makes a speedy recovery from what is hopefully, not a serious injury after his high speed impact with a tyre barrier.

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