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European GP Qualifying: 4th and 5th
By BMW Sauber F1 Team
July 21 2007
In qualifying for the European Grand Prix, the BMW Sauber F1 team drivers confirmed their team's position as third power on the grid. Nick Heidfeld secured fourth position on the grid while Robert Kubica will start the race in fifth position. Nick will fly back this afternoon to see his new son, who was born earlier this morning. Don't worry though - he'll be back for the race tomorrow!

Both Robert and Nick experienced a trouble-free first knockout phase of qualifying and easily qualified for the second leg. Nick completed a five-lap stint with three flying laps and improved lap by lap to finish 5th with a 1:31.889-minute lap. Robert who finished sixth, right behind his team-mate, only completed two flying laps and clocked his fastest lap time of 1:31.961 minutes at his first attempt. The fastest lap time of the session (1:31.074 minutes) was set by McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

Eliminated: Jenson Button, Scott Speed, Vitantonio Liuzzi, David Coulthard, Adrian Sutil, Markus Winkelhock.

Neither Robert nor Nick experienced any problems on the way to qualifying for the top-ten shootout in the second phase of qualifying. Both did two stints, with Robert setting his best lap time of 1:31.444 minutes in his second stint, thus finishing fifth. Nick, however, who had been one of the last drivers to go out for his second assault, aborted his second fast lap when it became obvious he would finish sixth anyway. Consequently, he settled for the 1:31.652-minute lap he had clocked in his first stint. The fastest lap time of the leg was set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa who lapped the Nürburgring in 1:30.983 minutes.

Eliminated: Nico Rosberg, Alexander Wurz, Giancarlo Fisichella, Rubens Barrichello, Anthony Davidson, Takuma Sato.

Following an accident involving McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, ten minutes into the phase, the top-ten shootout was red-flagged for more than 20 minutes as the tyre walls had to be repaired. This incident occurred when the entire field had just come in for their first sets of fresh tyres, therefore, the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers had to adapt their strategy to the new situation. In the final five minutes, there wasn't enough time for two assaults, therefore Nick and Robert could only do just one flying lap each. Yet, both succeeded in coping with the additional pressure. Nick crossed the line in 1:31.840 minutes to qualify fourth and Robert finished right behind the German in fifth position, with his 1:32.123-minute lap. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen secured pole position in 1:31.450 minutes.

Result: 1st Kimi Räikkönen, 2nd Fernando Alonso, 3rd Felipe Massa, 4th Nick Heidfeld, 5th Robert Kubica, 6th Mark Webber, 7th Heikki Kovalainen, 8th Jarno Trulli, 9th Ralf Schumacher, 10th Lewis Hamilton.

 

 

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