It was a happy end to the seventieth and final race for the BMW Sauber F1 Team: After a great race, Nick Heidfeld finished the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in fifth. With these four points the team was able to move up one place in the 2009 constructors’ championship and overtake Williams to finish sixth overall.

“I am very happy with my fifth place. It was a good race in which I was able to get the maximum out of the car and score four points, which was enough to reach our target for the end of the season to overtake Williams in the constructors’ championship,” he said. “After I have been a little unlucky in recent races, this time I was really able to exploit the car’s potential.”

“For quite a long period I was able to go at the same speed as the world champion’s car, the Brawn. The strategy to go for a rather long stint paid off and the track was even more fun when it had more rubber on it. It is a pleasing end to our last season together. It now becomes very emotional. During the last laps I had to pull myself together in order to keep my concentration.”

Meanwhile, his Renault bound teammate, Robert Kubica was also on the way to score a championship point before he spun in a battle with the Torro Rosso of Sébastien Buemi.

“I lost the race in the second stint when I was very slow, while in the first stint I was able to go at quite a good pace, similar to Rubens. The car was working very well. After changing tyres I had no grip at all,” he explained. “The track was getting quicker and I just could not go at the pace of the other drivers. This was very strange. My fight with Sébastien Buemi was quite tough and a bit dangerous. We nearly touched when braking into the chicane. He first moved to the left and blocked the inside of the left hander. When I moved to the right he pushed me over the high inside kerb of the right hander section of the chicane and I spun. He did not leave any space at all. Thanks a lot to the team for the last four years. I hope to meet them back on the grid next year.”

As a thank you for Nick Heidfeld’s seven years of great commitment to the team in Hinwil Peter Sauber is giving him a Formula One car from this era.

The 2009 season's finale also marks the last Formula One race for BMW after the company's decision at the end of July to pull out of this sport. In the team’s four year history the BMW Sauber F1 Team collected 308 world championship points, one pole position and 17 podiums, including one win.