Nick didn't look too happy .

When Nick mentioned in the interviews that he had to follow Robert home after the team changed him to the one-stop , it showed us why he wasn't happy .
He had run longer , and so , was compromised in the quals , to get a better shot at the race .

Since he mentioned this , I am assuming he perhaps had some disagreement with going to a one-stop , and was denied the opportunity to win , or at least fight with his team-mate for the win .
He appeared , since fuelling long for quals , to be the only one of the two to have the option , but appeared upset that it was chosen .
As a result , he was forced to run half the race on options , and full tanks , so it should have been an choice that was the lesser of the two .

He had a fast car , and took second , but wasn't happy .
They also didn't seem very cordial in the interview seats either .

I don't think all is well at Beamer .

I also just read a headline something like "Kubica would accept Alonso as team-mate" .
And , Kubica is getting questions about being the "de facto" number 1 .

I think he has been from the beginning .

As he said it, he let Kubica through without putting up a fight, and at that moment he gave up the chance to win his first ever GP.
If he would have kept the Pole behind for a few more laps than he would have been in front after Kubica's 2nd pit stop and would have probably won the race.

I feel sorry for him, he worked hard to bring this team up, and he is the one they have to thank for all the developing work done on their cars.

Well, if I heard right, Heidfeld ran 42 laps on his softer tires, so perhaps if he choose to "make life difficult" for Kubica and held him up, he might not have had the tires left to finish 2nd. Probably same reason the team told him to let Alonso by if it was costing him lap times...

I think you are reading a bit too much into it Bagwan.

He seemed corial enough in the press box towards Robert, and congradulated him a couple of times.

Had he kep Kubica behind, he would have cost the team valuable points, and probably cost himself his BMW seat next year.

I hope he starts matching Kubica especially in qualifying, and I hope BMW is man enough to acknowledge that Nick is part of thereason this team is so high up. Considering that Kubica started his F1 life with BMW, I would give Nick most of the credit for developing that card and the team.

Yes, I am sure BMW's money and personnel had a lot to do with it as well, but no amount of money and wind tunnel will replace proper useful feedback from drivers.

This season is all the more interesting because BMW is able to mix it with the fast boys, and I honestly believe the Kubica-Hiedfeld combination is a winning combo BMW should hold on to.

Indeed it was a sensible move to let Kubica through, because at that point due to lighter fuel load Robert was a lot faster than Nick (~2 seconds a lap) and holding him up would have been costly for the team's chances in general. But Nick did his job fine by holding Alonso up, who finally messed it up. So Nick is a great team player. If he ups his game, his chances will come.

I doubt BMW will change its driver line-up for next year if Nick starts performing acceptably and begins running close to Robert also in qualifyings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jens

Indeed it was a sensible move to let Kubica through, because at that point due to lighter fuel load Robert was a lot faster than Nick (~2 seconds a lap) and holding him up would have been costly for the team's chances in general. But Nick did his job fine by holding Alonso up, who finally messed it up. So Nick is a great team player. If he ups his game, his chances will come.

I doubt BMW will change its driver line-up for next year if Nick starts performing acceptably and begins running close to Robert also in qualifyings.

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He had a lighter fuel load because they changed his strategy to a one-stooper from a two-stopper .
As a result of having just one stop , he also had to run the second half with options .

He let him by because he knew he had no chance , once they changed his strategy .
Of course he had to congratulate his team-mate , or he would have looked like a real putz .
But , it looked to me like he would have liked to have been allowed to fight .

Call it veilled team orders , if you want .
I'll say it , even if Nick can't .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bagwan

Since he mentioned this , I am assuming he perhaps had some disagreement with going to a one-stop , and was denied the opportunity to win , or at least fight with his team-mate for the win .
He appeared , since fuelling long for quals , to be the only one of the two to have the option , but appeared upset that it was chosen .
As a result , he was forced to run half the race on options , and full tanks , so it should have been an choice that was the lesser of the two .

He had a fast car , and took second , but wasn't happy.
They also didn't seem very cordial in the interview seats either.

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On paper Nick should've won the race because a 1 stopper is quicker than a 2 stopper, especially with SC periods.

DC and the Toyotas got to where they were because of 1 stopping.

I think Nick is unhappy because he's been beaten by his team mate and got the win. He needed to raise his game and couldn't/

Kubica raised his game, crucially putting quick laps near the end of the second stint.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wedge

On paper Nick should've won the race because a 1 stopper is quicker than a 2 stopper, especially with SC periods.

DC and the Toyotas got to where they were because of 1 stopping.

I think Nick is unhappy because he's been beaten by his team mate and got the win. He needed to raise his game and couldn't/

Kubica raised his game, crucially putting quick laps near the end of the second stint.

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A one-stopper is quicker if you can get both kinds of tires working .
Nick's had all kinds of issues with that this year .

He was rendered unable to fight back , in my opinion .

If I recall correctly , Kimi got fastest lap , but Nick was second fastest in the race , indicating he had the pace to continue his original strategy , a two-stopper .
If I have recalled correctly , why did they change the strategy at all ? We might have seen a real battle .
That's what I think Nick was not so happy about .

He denied there were team orders in the first turn , but the die was cast by then .

Nick is getting punked by theissen but I can't understand why any of you are surprised at the least. Kubica is Theissen's guy and Nick is the water boy.
Don't worry you won't see alonso going over there. You might see Nick taking Piquet's seat.

it was very funny that David Hobbs thought DC was a real flyer.

It was as if Nick was at funeral when they were showing shots of the guys backstage before the podium ceremony.
You have to feel a bit sorry for him, he has been a solid driver, under-rated and has never driven cars capable of winning. Now he has a faster car but his team-mate is beating him on speed and he had a great chance to win his first race but it went to the younger guy...

No denying the fact that Kubica has had "future winner" stamped over him for a while now and he justified that tag.