BMW Sauber F1 Team - British Grand Prix - Qualifying

Weather: Sunshine and clouds but dry, 19-23°C Air, 31-46°C Track

Silverstone (GBR). For the ninth Grand Prix of the season both BMW Sauber F1
Team drivers will start in the top ten. In Silverstone Robert Kubica claimed
fifth on the grid for the British Grand Prix while his team-mate, Nick
Heidfeld, was ninth.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.07-07/BMW P86/7
Qualifying: 5th, 1.20.401 min (3rd Practice: 16th, 1.21.156min)
"This morning I didn't do a lot of running because of a gearbox problem.
However, everything turned into better shape for me at the most important point
of the weekend. Qualifying was good, in fact better than we expected and I had
a good pace. We struggled yesterday with my set up, but we changed something
for qualifying and it looks like this has made the difference. If I was joking
I would say we were the first of the B championship. It looks like Ferrari and
McLaren here are too far away to fight with them, but it is important to be
there if someone has a failure and so we can gain positions"

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.07-05/BMW P86/7
Qualifying: 9th, 1.20.894 min (3rd Practice: 9th, 1.20.882min)
"Of course I am not happy. Ninth position is my worst qualifying result this
season. I couldn't get the most out of the tyres - neither at the beginning of
the lap nor towards the end when they started graining. The balance of my car
wasn't bad. Compared to yesterday this had already improved for this morning's
session, as we identified a set-up mistake we made yesterday. Naturally I hope
some cars starting in front of me have to refuel before me, but you can never
tell."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"During the third free practice this morning we had to change Robert's gearbox.
The fact he lost no more than 20 minutes running time after such a major repair
was due to a brilliant effort from the mechanics. To make up for some of the
lost track time Robert did two outings in Q1. I am very pleased he made it to
fifth position under these circumstances. Nick on the other hand didn't manage
to get a perfect lap and will start from ninth. He will have an awful lot of
work to do."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
"All in all it is a good result. Again, for the ninth time this season, we
managed to qualify both drivers in the top ten. We adapted Robert's programme
after he lost some time in the morning session due to a gearbox problem, and
based on this his performance was great. With fifth on the grid we can be very
satisfied. Meanwhile Nick did not find a perfect lap in the last part of
qualifying."

Video footage available from www.thenewsmarket.com or fromwww.icnsport.com
(David Beck, dbeck@icnsport.com , +447785330066)

Photos available to download from www.press.bmwgroup.com