BMW celebrate 'strongest' race to date

The German squad's Nick Heidfeld completed yet another strong race on his way to fourth place, his third such finish in a row, after battling with and beating world champion Fernando Alonso.

Heidfeld was able to match the pace of Alonso and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, crossing the finish line just 13 seconds behind race winner Felipe Massa.

BMW's bright day was completed by Robert Kubica's sixth place, which gave the Pole his first points of the season.

"This was the strongest performance of the BMW Sauber team so far," said Theissen. "Not only did we score eight points, but Nick's fourth place is really a special one. We were able to match the pace of the top cars and Nick was even able to overtake world champion Fernando Alonso on the track.

"Unfortunately an open fuel filler cover disturbed the aerodynamics of Robert's car, but also for him I am very pleased he scored his first points of the season. At the end of the day the third race of the season was another step forward for the team."

Heidfeld admitted he was feeling great after another strong showing.

"I feel fantastic," said Heidfeld. "Currently I have a good car, a good team, I can drive good races and I really enjoy this. Before the race I didn't think I could overtake Fernando, but in the second stint I was a bit quicker than him because I had one more set of fresh tyres than him.

"On the other hand, Fernando had the better top speed. I had to wait until he made a mistake, which he did in corner 13.

"For the team it is extremely important that both cars finished the race and scored points. I think here we were even stronger than in Malaysia, which is surprising as our car has not changed in the past week. Obviously the track suited us and I had a very good set-up."