Both Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber had a reasonably good first qualifying session today, with Nick being 5th fastest and Mark just behind in 6th. However, due to the fact that the German driver had to change the engine of his car twice he will start from the very back of the pack, having lost twenty positions on the grid as a penalty.

Nick Heidfeld: 5th (1.15,038 min)
Chassis: FW27 06 / BMW P84/5 engine: 1. GP
I am happy with my lap today, although I didn't push flat out knowing that I will have to start my race from the back. With regards to the set-up of my car, it was much better in qualifying compared to this morning's free practice sessions. Since we have known that I will have to start from the back we have concentrated even more on race set-up and I am quite confident that we have the potential for a strong race tomorrow. We are going to try our best on Sunday but it's not going to be easy starting from the back.

Mark Webber: 6th (1.15,042h min)
Chassis: FW27 05 (T-car FW27 04) / BMW P84/5 engine: 1. GP
I had a pretty clean lap notwithstanding that this place is incredibly sensitive to the wind. Anyway, it's the same for everyone else. I didn't have any running at all yesterday, due to the engine issue and of course I would have preferred to have put a few more laps under my belt in order to get better prepared for the race, but that's what I've got and 6th is not too bad. Since they laid the new tarmac, this is a different Barcelona circuit to what we were used to in the past. It's pretty good and a lot easier on the tyres compared to what we had before.

Sam Michael (Technical Director, WilliamsF1): It was a good qualifying session for the team. The whole team had a lot of work to manufacture and bring all the new parts to the circuit and fit these components in time for this morning's sessions, all of which are working well. Obviously due to the engine changes Nick will have to go to the back of the grid on Sunday, but we will do the best for him with a good race strategy. Meanwhile Mark's strategy for tomorrow's second qualifying will be to maintain his position with a higher fuel load.

Mario Theissen (BMW Motorsport Director): It was an exciting first qualifying with tight gaps between the drivers at the top. Both our drivers put in a good lap. However, Nick knows already that he is going to start from the back due to the fact that he changed engines. Mark has to try and maintain his good position in tomorrow's qualifying when different fuel loads are deployed. The engines, which were built in Munich on Friday were fitted in both cars during the night and we have experienced no problems since Free Practice.

2005 Spanish Grand Prix - Main Page
2005 Spanish Grand Prix - Team and Driver Saturday Qualifying Reports Page

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