For just the third time this season, and their seventieth and final race in the world of Formula One, the BMW Sauber F1 Team progressed on its own merit with both cars into the top ten session for the grid with their highest placed driver for the evening being Renault bound Polish racer, Robert Kubica who qualified in a strong seventh place for tomorrow afternoon’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“Unfortunately I missed yesterday’s second free practice session. As a result I had no experience of the track conditions at this time of day,” he explained. “The conditions were completely different compared to the third free practice session. The lower temperatures had quite a big effect on the car’s balance. In the end qualifying in seventh is quite ok and I am optimistic that we can fight for points tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, teammate Nick Heidfeld finished the evening with his car lying in eighth place. Therefore the team, with at least one car, has taken part in the top ten qualifying session in ten out of this season’s 17.

“I think my eighth position is alright,” Nick said. “On the last lap there was a small chance to improve, but I had traffic with Mark Webber in front of me, and anyway there is no guarantee this lap would have been faster. If I take the fuel load into account, I’m happy with my grid position although I only really know the fuel load for our cars. The tyres seem to last here remarkably well, which means it could pay off if you stay out for longer. The light from the setting sun was a bit brighter than yesterday, but the circuit is built in such a way that you have to deal with it in only one corner, which anyway is flat. For our last race tomorrow I hope for all of us we can achieve a good result with points for both cars.”