Heidfeld ecstatic after 'great' qualifying

The BMW Sauber driver, who was not completely comfortable with the set-up of his F1.07, barely made it to the final stage of qualifying after a moment in the second session.

"I'm extremely happy," said the German. "My penultimate lap wasn't bad and the final one was simply great. In qualifying two I was close to missing the top ten, and this was because I had a big slide and almost spun in turn 6.

"Right up to the last session of qualifying I had the impression this time we might have gone in the wrong direction with the car's set-up.

"It would have been an exception because normally we are very good in this. In the end the car felt better again and I think the track conditions also helped."

Teammate Robert Kubica, who qualified right behind Heidfeld in seventh, believed he could have done better if it wasn't for his tyres picking up dirt and locking during his flying lap.

The Pole expects tyres to play a big part in the race at Interlagos.

"It could have been better, but unfortunately on the last lap I had Fernando Alonso in front of me," Kubica commented. "He let me by, but I had to take a different line which meant my tyres picked up dirt.

"In the last corner I was quicker but when braking I locked the front wheel, went straight and lost a lot of time. The race will certainly be hard for the tyre."