Formula One news

Difficult start to weekend for BMW

With a generally miserable season for the BMW team set to come to an end in just over a fortnight's time, problems continued at Interlagos on Friday as Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld could end the day in no better than 12th and 15th positions on a damp race track.

Having dropped off in performance at the end of last year, BMW hoped to be back in Brazil as championship contenders in 2009 although the destiny of the team has gone very much in the opposite direction this season, with the manufacturer having announced its withdrawal from the sport in July.

Nick Heidfeld

"Today we tried different downforce levels and completed some long runs in preparation for the race," Kubica explained. "However, it was very difficult to get reliable results because on several occasions it was drizzling and the conditions were changing frequently during the two sessions."

Team-mate Heidfeld also had difficulty finding any pace in the car. "We changed the car a lot after the first session, when it really wasn't good at all," he commented, having finished 12th in the morning. "The changes definitely meant an improvement but the balance isn't yet as I would like it to be. We still have some work to do."

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