By BMW Sauber F1
April 17 2009

In the second free practice session at the "Shanghai International Circuit", the BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers continued their preparations for the race on Sunday. Robert Kubica finished the session 17th, while Nick Heidfeld was 18th, right behind his team-mate. The second practice session of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend was held in similar conditions to the first earlier this morning. In temperatures reaching 19° C, Robert and Nick both completed their scheduled programmes.

The two BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers carried out different programmes with Robert being the faster of the pairing. Completing five stints totalling 34 laps, he secured 17th with a personal best time of 1:37.491 minutes. The Pole started the session with two short stints while in the second half he completed two longer outings before adding 10-lap long-run in the closing stages.

Nick, however completed just three stints comprising 28 laps - with each of these stints being a long-run. The German clocked his personal fastest lap time on his 19th lap, finishing the session 18th with a personal best time of 1:37.544-minutes. Nick and Robert both carried out extensive tyre evaluations as it will be crucial to use the right tyre compound at the right point in time in Sunday's race.

The fastest lap time of the session (1:35.679 minutes) was clocked by Brawn GP's Jenson Button.

In Saturday's free practice session, starting at 11:00hrs local time (04:00hrs BST), the Munich and Hinwil based squad will complete its preparations for the remainder of the weekend before fighting for promising grid positions in the qualifying session four hours later.