BMW Sauber F1 Team - GP Spain - Practice

Weather: sunny and dry in the afternoon, 19-23°C air, 21-42°C
track Barcelona (ESP). It was a trouble-free first practice day in
Spain for all three BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers. As usual Robert Kubica
had a heavy work load and completed 55 laps, while Nick Heidfeld and
Jacques Villeneuve got used to the Barcelona track and its changing
conditions, which saw rain in the morning and bright sunshine in the
afternoon. Nick Heidfeld: BMW Sauber F1.06-02/BMW P86 1st Practice: No
time / 2nd Practice: 12th, 1:17.622s We had a trouble free day with
everything running smoothly, and my work included the tyre comparisons.
Robert Kubica: BMW Sauber F1.06-05/BMW P86 1st Practice: 4th, 1:16.628s
/ 2nd Practice: 13th, 1:17.844s In the morning the track was wet, so we
had to wait for it to dry and there was no grip. We concentrated on
tyre testing, and this went pretty well. We need to be sure of the
right decisions for the race and we have come to some conclusions, so
that is important. In the second free practice the track had a lot of
rubber so I got a lot of understeer, but I had to complete my programme
so could not adjust the car. Obvioulsy the more rubber that is laid down
the better the track will get, and so tomorrow it should be pretty
good. Jacques Villeneuve: BMW Sauber F1.06-03/BMW P86 1st Practice: No
time / 2nd Practice: 16th, 1:18.007s It is very windy so the track is
very different to when we were here testing, and as well as that it is
a lot hotter. I did a couple of runs. One was with high fuel for the
race, as I am going to have to start from the back, so I have been
concentrating on that. This is not a good overtaking track so it will be
tough to move to the front. Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director):
We completed our scheduled programme without any problems, and from the
information have been able to base the decisions for our tyre choice and
car set up. Today we witnessed Barcelona's well known characteristic of
conditions that change quite often and at short notice. This affects
the temperatures, rubber on the track and the wind. Willy Rampf
(Technical Director Chassis): We are satisfied with our lap times and
performance and had no mechanical problems. Our programme contained
tyre comparison and race preparation work. It was quite a varied
programme despite the fact all the teams test here quite a lot. We have
to do this because the track changes frequently during the day. We now
have a lot of data to check, but I think we are well prepared for the
weekend. Current footage available at www.thenewsmarket.com. Current
images available at https://newsroom.bmwgroup.com/global/en