Friday: The good and the not so good for BMW!

A very significant contrast is to the credit of the BMW team for this first day of the Spanish Grand Prix. The drivers ranked 3rd and 4th in the morning but only 16th and 17th in the afternoon, with Robert Kubica ahead of Nick Heidfeld in both sessions. This is simply due to the tires, as both compounds were tested by the Hinwil team during the day.

Another important point is the arrival of the new F1.09, tweaked from an aerodynamic perspective but without a ‘double’ diffuser. Any performance gain, if it exists, will be felt during qualifying tomorrow. BMW is waiting patiently with high hopes.

Robert Kubica – 3rd and 16th:

« We tested a lot of new aerodynamic parts on the car. We spent quite a bit of time on setup trying different things. We now need to analyze the data in order to exploit the car’s potential to the maximum. As usual on Friday, we compared the two tire compounds, but it’s obvious that the soft ones provide better performance. »

Nick Heidfeld – 4th and 17th:

Unfortunately, I lost some time this morning during the first session with a few issues. It wasn’t until the end of it that I was able to work properly on the program. It’s frustrating because testing all these new parts and driving the car for the first time without the KERS are important things. Given the few kilometers covered in the morning, we’ve already made good progress in preparing the car for the second session, and I think there’s room for improvement.

Willy Rampf – Director of Engineering:

« We arrived in Barcelona with a new aerodynamic package. Finding a basic setup was the main task today. An initial evaluation of the aerodynamic data allows us to say that we have taken a step forward. Now, we are curious to see how Saturday’s qualifying will unfold to see where we stand compared to the competitors. Due to a brake issue, Nick [Heidfeld] completed fewer laps in the morning than expected. As usual, we focused on race preparation. »