BMW Sauber F1 Team - Australian Grand Prix - Race, Sunday - 18.03.07

Australian Grand Prix - Race, Sunday - 18.03.07

Weather: dry and sunny, 21-22°C Air, 39-41°C Track

The BMW Sauber F1 Team started the 2007 season off in Melbourne with fourth
place for Nick Heidfeld. However, a gearbox problem robbed the team of seeing
both drivers in the points, as Robert Kubica retired on lap 36 while lying in
fourth place.

Nick Heidfeld: 4th
BMW Sauber F1.07-05 / BMW P86/7
Fastest Lap: 1.26.722 min on lap 37 (6th fastest overall)

"I had a very good start, which was an even better one than Kimi and managed to
pass Fernando. Of course I hoped to stay in front of him, but realistically I
knew the McLarens were quicker than us. Thinking about how happy we are, you
should not forget where we came from as we started last season eighth in the
constructors' championship. Our pace is really good and fourth is a super start
to the season.

I feel very sorry for the team with Robert's retirement, as he was also very
strong. My tyre strategy to take the softer ones first was riskier. I knew
after the first stop there was the danger of getting stuck in traffic, and this
is what happened, but I took the risk anyway. The race was a lot of fun, but in
the final laps I was a bit lonely. Mechanically my car was perfect."

Robert Kubica: Retired
BMW Sauber F1.07-04 / BMW P86/7
Fastest Lap: 1.26.642 min on lap 19 (4th fastest overall)

"My pace was good but unfortunately we had a gearbox problem. I was stuck in
fifth gear and that was the end of my race. The only good thing is we know what
the problem is and we now have to resolve it. In the race I was much heavier
than Nick and was able to match his speed. My strategy was to attack towards
the end of the race. My last stint was going to be very short, so I would have
had an even better performance then, but unfortunately I didn't get that far."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"Nick drove a good race and his fourth has earned us five points in the season
curtain raiser. He was on soft tyres for the first stint and we didn't think
they would last very long. In hindsight, we could have done a longer first
stint. Robert was strong and showing the same pace as Nick when his gearbox
stuck in fifth on lap 36.

Now we have to focus on getting our reliability sorted out. The most important
lesson today is we have been able to match our testing performance. We have
clearly been the third fastest team, and that is a good baseline for the next
races."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
"Nick's fourth place is a very good result and reflects our qualifying
performance, as we were the third quickest team in that. We ran our cars on
different strategies as the new tire regulation stipulates you have to use both
compounds in the race. Another reason was the new Safety Car rule which says
the pit lane will be closed until the cars are in their proper order on the
track.

You have to make sure you don't go into such a period with the cars on the same
pit stop strategy. Nick was on the softer compound for the start and Robert
would have used it at the end, which obviously didn't happen. Both our drivers
were quick and strong."

Footage available from www.thenewsmarket.com or at ICN (David Beck,
dbeck@icnsport.com),
Photos available to download from www.press.bmwgroup.com