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Monaco Quali: Kubica 5th, unlucky Heidfeld 13th
By BMW Sauber F1 Team
May 24 2008
For the BMW Sauber F1 Team, the Monaco qualifying was a session of mixed emotions: while Robert secured fifth on the grid, Nick Heidfeld had to abort his final flying lap in the second knockout phase of qualifying due to yellow flags and therefore had to settle for 13th.
Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers advanced to the second knockout of qualifying. While Robert needed just one assault and finished 6th with his lap time of 1:15.977 minutes, Nick encountered a difficult first leg. In his first stint, the German completed two laps and as his lap times weren't particularly impressive, he went out for a second run. On his fourth timed lap, the German lapped the "Circuit de la Principauté" in 1:16.650 minutes to finish 14th. The fastest time of the session (1:15.190 minutes) was set by Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Eliminated: Sébastien Bourdais, Nelson Piquet, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella.

In the second knockout phase of qualifying, only Robert advanced to the top-ten qualifying. The Pole clocked a lap time of 1:15.483 minutes to finish sixth. Nick, however, experienced a dose of bad luck. In the closing stages of the session, the 31-year-old just was on the way to improving his time when Red Bull's David Coulthard crashed at the exit of the tunnel. Consequently, Nick had to abort his lap and his 1:16.455-minute lap set earlier wasn't fast enough for advancing to the top-ten qualifying. In the end, Nick had to settle for 13th. Massa clocked a time of 1:15.110 minutes, thus again proving to be the quickest.

Eliminated: Timo Glock, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima, Rubens Barrichello.

In the top-ten shootout, Robert secured fifth grid position. In his second run, the 23-year-old set a lap time of 1:16.171 minutes, thus being just six thousandths of a second slower than McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen who finished fourth. Massa secured pole position with a 1:15.787-minute lap.

Robert is in a promising position to add some points to the BMW Sauber F1 Team's tally in the Monaco Grand Prix, starting on Sunday at 14:00hrs CEST (13:00hrs BST). Nick hopes for the wet conditions that have been forecast, as everything is possible if it's raining in Monaco.

Result: 1st Felipe Massa, 2nd Kimi Räikkönen, 3rd Lewis Hamilton, 4th Heikki Kovalainen, 5th Robert Kubica, 6th Nico Rosberg, 7th Fernando Alonso, 8th Jarno Trulli, 9thMark Webber, 10th David Coulthard.

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