It was a race with ups and downs for both Nick and Robert. Right at the start, in turn two, the pairing collided while battling it out for fourth position. Both went off and dropped back to 20th and 21st positions respectively. Moments later, the Nürburgring was hit by a heavy rain shower, which caused pure chaos. Cars were virtually swimming on the track and several went off while Nick pitted for intermediates - and to have his car's nose changed.

By the end of lap two almost everyone had pitted for intermediates, however five cars were stranded in the gravel trap and consequently race control decided to send out the safety-car - while Nick made a second stop for full wets. Half a lap later, race control decided to red-flag the race and wait conditions to improve.

It was a decision that turned out to be perfect for the BMW Sauber F1 Team, as BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen explains. "In the collision, one of Nick's tie rods broke and without the red flags he couldn't have continued the race. Behind the safety-car, however, he had the chance to slowly return to the pits, and the 'interruption' offered our pit crew the chance of repairing the damage."

When the race was restarted behind the safety car, Robert and Nick continued in 11th and 15th positions but quickly started working their way back up the field. By lap 16, when everybody had pitted for dry-weather tyres, Robert had already moved up to eighth place while Nick followed in tenth position. On lap 19, Nick passed Ralf Schumacher (Toyota) for 9th place - and from that point in time, the two BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers were involved in a race-long battle, with Nick again and again lapping the Nürburgring just half a second behind his team-mate.

On lap 35, a technical failure forced Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen into early retirement and the pairing each gained another position. When the Eifel track was hit by a further rain shower, in the closing stages of the race, both drivers succeeded in passing Renault's Heikki Kovalainen for sixth and seventh positions. However, Nick wasn't ready to finish his home race behind his team-mate and on lap 59, the penultimate lap of the race, he made the decisive move and passed Robert for sixth place.

"Today, we are happier with our pit crew than with our drivers," admitted Mario Theissen. "Things like the collision just shouldn't happen. We will sit down together and discuss how to deal with such situations."

Nonetheless, at the end of the day Nick and Robert successfully limited the damage caused by the collision. By finishing sixth and seventh, ahead of the Renaults, they consolidated the BMW Sauber F1 Team's third place in the Constructors' Championship and extended the squad's lead over their fourth-placed French rivals by another four points.

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