Planet-F1

Sun: BMW, Toro Rosso

Sunday 20th July 2008

There were points in Germany for both BMW drivers as well as Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel.

BMW
Nick Heidfeld: Coming fourth from 12th on the grid is a great result. Not making it into the top ten in qualifying meant we were free to choose our fuel load afterwards, and so we went for a rather long first stint. That's why I was able to stay out during the safety car period when almost everybody else was refuelling. That was certainly crucial as I was able to pull away as soon as the traffic was behind me. Before that I couldn't show my true speed as I never had a clear lap. The car was good and the fact that I set the fastest race lap proves it. In the end I was very close to Felipe, but still had no chance to overtake him. It was a good home race for me and I'm happy I could give something back to the fans who may have been disappointed by my qualifying performance yesterday."

Robert Kubica: It is difficult to be happy after a race like this. During the first half of the race I was able to match the pace of McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari. Suddenly my car's pace was miles too slow. My tyres lost lots of grip, and perhaps this was because my tyres cooled down too much. We now have to analyse the data."

Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel: It was a tough race with a lot of fights but it was big fun. The first lap was hard and close. I tried to pass Kimi, but it didn't work out. I took some time to find a rhythm but I had a wonderful car and could run a great pace. I was disappointed when I saw the Safety Car as I was comfortably holding a points position, but we did the best we could in the situation. I fought to the end and although I was quicker than Jarno I could not pass and then he made a mistake, which brought me back to eighth place. Congratulations to everyone in the team. Eighth with no retirements, means we deserved to finish where we did and I am proud of that."

Sebastien Bourdais: I am happy with this result in terms of the pace I could run, but I was a bit unlucky with the Safety Car incident, as I knew it would involve me queuing in the pits behind Sebastian. I was able to keep up with Heidfeld in the first stint and the lap times were decent. The car worked better on the Option tyre. Overall, I had a strong race and kept pushing, hanging on to take twelfth. So now, I need to repeat this sort of performance and hopefully have some good luck to see it move me further up the order."