Heidfeld bags best grid slot yet for BMW.

Having delivered BMW Sauber their best result of third place in Hungary, Nick Heidfeld will start the Turkish Grand Prix in their highest position yet after qualifying sixth fastest, a position that becomes fifth when Ralf Schumacher serves his ten-place grid penalty.

It was the team's best qualifying effort of the year overall too, with Robert Kubica proving his pace in Hungary was no fluke by putting his car eighth on the grid, less than a tenth off his team-mate.

Indeed, Heidfeld was not expecting to continue the team's strong form into Turkey, particularly as he considered his podium in Hungary as occurring thanks to 'exceptional circumstances'. Nonetheless, the German praised his team for continuing to push ahead with development.

"I am a little bit surprised that everything went so well," said Heidfeld. "Our performance in Hungary was, in my opinion, due to exceptional circumstances. If we compare today's result to the races prior to then the improvement is an enormous step forward.

"It shows the guys in Munich and Hinwil worked really well during the summer break, and here we have some more aerodynamic improvements including a modified front wing. Nevertheless I am realistic and think it is going to be harder for us in the race, but our goals are points."

Kubica meanwhile was pleased with the ultimate result from qualifying but was critical of the car, claiming that it was switching between understeer and oversteer, leaving him cautious about his pace in the race.

"It was a good qualifying as we have both cars in the top ten. We struggled with the set up this morning and had understeer, but suddenly in qualifying it became oversteer. It went from one side to the other and unfortunately the car was really difficult to drive.

"However, I managed pretty well to push on one lap and I shall see what happens tomorrow. The conditions are changing and we should have more rubber on the track, which should help to make the rear more stable."