Thanks to a great performance, BMW Sauber F1 Team driver Robert Kubica secured second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix. His team-mate, Nick Heidfeld, also delivered a flawless performance and added a further three points to the team's tally by finishing sixth.
The Malaysian Grand Prix, round two in the 2008 Formula One World Championship, proved to be another successful race for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. By winning 11 points in the Malaysian heat, the team achieved the best overall result in its history.
Both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers made a good start. Robert passed Toyota's Jarno Trulli on the inside while Nick truly rocketed away to pass both Robert and Trulli on the outside. Trulli, however, wasn't ready to give in, and in the first corner he forced Nick off the ideal line. As a result, Nick dropped back to tenth position.
Robert, however, successfully defended his third place and quickly opened a gap over the drivers behind him: Mark Webber (Red Bull), McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).
After the first set of pit stops, Robert continued in third position. But behind him, Kovalainen moved up to fourth place. Those who feared that the Finn might become a threat for Robert were soon proven wrong. The Pole was able to match the pace of the McLaren driver and even succeeded in extending his lead over Kovalainen.
When Ferrari's Felipe Massa spun off the track and was left stranded in the gravel on lap 31, Robert moved up to second place. He continued his mature performance, made no mistakes and eventually crossed the line as runner-up.
Nick's race, however, was a little more eventful. Following the first-corner incident, the German continued in tenth place but soon demonstrated that he was determined to battle his way back up the field. On lap five, he made a great move to pass both David Coulthard (Red Bull) and Renault's Fernando Alonso at the same time, thus moving up to eighth position, just 2.3 seconds behind Kovalainen. Despite being one of the first drivers to come in for his first stop, he still held eighth position following the first round of pit stops. He followed seventh-placed Lewis Hamilton like a shadow and benefited from Massa's retirement to gain another position.
During the second round of pit stops, the good strategy and great work of the BMW Sauber F1 Team pit crew helped him to move up another position. At the end of the day he finished sixth, thus scoring another three points for the Munich and Hinwil based squad. On the penultimate lap of the race, Nick lapped the 5.543-kilometre "Sepang International Circuit" in 1:35.366 minutes, thus setting the fastest race lap.
"This is a great start to the season," said BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen. "Having secured two runner-up finishes in the first two races is a really fine result. We have learned once again that grid positions are really important in today's Formula One as overtaking is extremely difficult."
