Planet-F1

Kubica delighted with 'fantastic result'

Sunday 23rd March 2008

Robert Kubica claims BMW should be happy with their pace after he finished second at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Following an eventful start he enjoyed a trouble free afternoon to score the German team a second consecutive podium finish.

The Pole was delighted to bounce back from his retirement in Australia with a strong performance.

"I think it is a fantastic result for the team," he said.

"Second place in a grand prix in a row. So after the unlucky Australian Grand Prix to finally get a podium after Monza 2006...I'm so happy for myself and the team."

The 23-year-old admitted his start was poor, but explained that the incident between Jarno Trulli and team-mate Nick Heidfeld allowed him to recover.

"I didn't have a good start with some wheelspin which compromised all the acceleration, so it was quite close with Trulli and Nick.

"I nearly lost the car under braking on the first corner but they touched and I managed to overtake them.

"Then I tried to keep a consistent pace. We knew we could not match Ferrari but we kept pushing."

In a rather telling statement, Kubica then said that he had the match of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, so he decided to look after his engine.

"Then when I saw after the second pitstop Heikki being 17 seconds behind me we decided to keep down the revs and keep the engine fresh for the next race.

"I didn't feel all well. I was a bit sick and it was hard to keep concentration. So I was cruising to the end."

Kubica is content with BMW's race pace but said he lacks the straightline speed of the frontrunners.

"First of all I think we have to be happy with our pace already," he said. "Starting the season it didn't look so well, and it was difficult to say where we were.

"In top speed we are lacking a bit, it makes for tough races because we have to push hard in the corners. On the straight we are losing a bit of gap, so in the long distance races it is not easy with tyre degradation."