BMW Sauber confirmed on Monday that current line-up, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, will continue to race for the team next season. With continuity being BMW Sauber’s watchword for 2009, third driver Christian Klien will stay on too.
“We see Nick and Robert as a strong driver pairing and Christian as an experienced test driver,” explained BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen. “We are in no doubt that we will again achieve our ambitious aims with them in the team’s fourth year.”
Poland’s Kubica is currently third in the world championship standings behind Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa heading into the Japan Grand Prix, while Germany’s Heidfeld is fifth.
The announcement ends speculation over Heidfeld’s future and also slams the door on Renault’s Fernando Alonso, winner of the Singapore Grand Prix, who had been linked with a move to BMW.
“I’m very pleased about this announcement and about the confidence that the team have shown in me,” Heidfeld said.
“I’ve always said that I was happy to stay with BMW Sauber because we’ve managed to achieve what we set out to do at this stage and I really hope that we will be battling it out for the title itself next year.”
He added: “There have been times this season when neither I nor the team could honestly say that we were satisfied with the way things were going, but we have always pulled together and come through.”
