BMW Sauber F1 Team - European Grand Prix - Qualifying

Weather: overcast, some raindrops, 26-29°C Air, 27-33°C Track

Valencia (ES). Positive qualifying for the BMW Sauber F1 Team - Robert Kubica
qualified third for the maiden event at the Valencia street circuit. Nick
Heidfeld finished qualifying for the European Grand Prix in eighth.

Robert Kubica:
BMW Sauber F1.08-05 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 3rd, 1:39.392 min (3rd Practice: 1st, 1:38.754 min)
"This was a very good Qualifying for the team and me. After some unlucky races
lately the pace of the car here in Valencia is not that bad. However, there is
still a small gap to Ferrari and McLaren. Qualifying went pretty smoothly, with
only the weather a bit unstable. In the end there were only some rain drops in
the second qualifying session, but this did not affect the result. The choice
of tires was pretty clear for me by yesterday: I went on the harder compound in
Q1 and on the softer compound in Q2 and in Q3."

Nick Heidfeld:
BMW Sauber F1.08-07 / BMW P86/8
Qualifying 8th, 1:40.631 min (3rd Practice: 8th, 1:39.335 min)
"Qualifying eighth is not perfect, but I think it was about the maximum
possible today as the fuel load comes into play. In Q1 I thought it was déja-vu
when Timo Glock was in my way. Our team informs us on the radio how many
seconds behind us a fast car is, and when we have to let somebody overtake.
Apparently this isn’t the case in every team. I was afraid my qualifying would
be ruined, but luckily I was able to do a second lap straight away and it was
good enough. Q2 was fine, as I was third fastest and could see the pace was
there. Generally speaking I'm a lot happier with my car today. On Friday I was
struggling a lot, but we have made a lot of changes since."

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
"On this new and demanding track Robert had a great qualifying again and fought
his way through to P3 on the grid. Nick improved in the second part of
qualifying and made it into Q3 with the third best time overall. His last lap
wasn't perfect as he lost some time in the second sector. Anyway, eighth is
good. What these positions are worth we shall see tomorrow during the first pit
stops. We had no technical problems during qualifying."

Willy Rampf (Technical Director):
"This was a very exciting qualifying. In the first part there were some rain
drops, and in the second part the times were close. It's positive that we were
able to get both cars into the top ten qualifying. Nick drove a very fast lap
in Q2 and was able to qualify easily for Q3. Robert also had a very strong
performance. Starting from P3 he is in a very good position for the race, and
Nick will also have his chances. I'm pleased all the hard work we have done
since the race in Hungary has paid off."