Kubica happy to fight on top again

The Pole, whose BMW Sauber team enjoyed its best qualifying of the season, made good use of the competitive car and scored his best result of the year so far.

Kubica believes BMW's form at Spa is a good omen for the next race at Monza.

"At times we lacked a bit of speed but, of course, it is good to be fighting for podiums again," said Kubica. "The result means a lot of points for the team and is good. Unfortunately we didn't have the chance to achieve anything better.

"The result proves we are quite competitive on low downforce tracks, which is a positive sign for Monza. However, we have to analyse why the car was more competitive and felt better during qualifying yesterday."

Team-mate Nick Heidfeld completed a good day for the Hinwil-based squad after finishing in fifth position.

The German, however, was not happy with the result, as he felt more would have been possible if not for the wrong tyre choice.

"Although it is a good result for the team, I have to admit I'm disappointed," Heidfeld said. "From third on the grid I had higher expectations, but I lost the race on the first lap.

"My thought pattern before the race went back and forth as to whether I should take the harder or the softer compound for the start. The harder was the quicker one but, of course, not the better one for heating up quickly. Because the sun was shining I went for the harder compound, and paid for it.

"After the start I tried to out brake Jarno on the inside of La Source, but I lost ground because the tyres weren't warm enough. Up the hill to turn five several cars were in the gravel, including me, and that's where I lost more positions.

"Later at my first pitstop I had to lock up the brakes in the pit lane to avoid crashing into Mark, who I was then able to immediately overtake on the track. In the last stint my pace was really good and I closed the gap to Robert.

"But, even though I was quicker than him, I couldn't overtake because as soon as you are less than two seconds behind another car you start sliding due to losing downforce in the dirty air."