It was a happy end to BMW's short-lived reign in Formula One, as the team secured the points needed to leapfrog Williams into sixth place in the Constructors' championship. With Kubica and Heidfeld starting seventh and eighth on the grid respectively, the team was hopeful of getting both drivers into the top eight, but in the end only Heidfeld had the pace to secure a points finish.

Despite gaining a place at the start, Kubica's early pitstop cost the Pole a place to Heidfeld during the first round of stops, but it was his poor pace in the second stint that ultimately pushed him outside the points as he struggled in the turbulent air of Jarno Trulli in front. After the second round of stops had been completed, Kubica found himself behind Toro Rosso's Sébastien Buemi in ninth, and an attempted overtaking manoeuvre on the rookie at turn 8 resulted in Kubica spinning down to 10th, where he stayed.

“I lost the race in the second stint when I was very slow, while in the first stint I was able to go at quite a good pace, similar to Rubens. The car was working very well.” Kubica told reporters at the end of the race. “After changing tyres I had no grip at all. The track was getting quicker and I just could not go at the pace of the other drivers. This was very strange. My fight with Sébastien Buemi was quite tough and a bit dangerous. My fight with Sébastien Buemi was quite tough and a bit dangerous.”

On the other hand, Heidfeld's long first stint enabled him to gain three places during the first round of pitstops. Despite getting to within five seconds of Brawn's Rubens Barrichello, he was unable to get close enough to attempt an overtaking manoeuvre, and settled for fifth place.

“I am very happy with my fifth place. It was a good race in which I was able to get the maximum out of the car and score four points, which was enough to reach our target for the end of the season to overtake Williams in the constructors' championship,” Heidfeld said after the race. “After I have been a little unlucky in recent races, this time I was really able to exploit the car's potential.

“For quite a long period I was able to go at the same speed as the world champion's car, the Brawn. The strategy to go for a rather long stint paid off and the track was even more fun when it had more rubber on it.”

BMW Sauber had entered the second finale in Abu Dhabi just 2.5 points behind sixth-place Williams in the constructors' table, with Heidfeld's points-finish giving the team the final push needed to take the place at the death. Team principal Mario Theissen was happy to end the season on a high. “That was once again a strong weekend for our team in the season´s finale,” he began.

“The most important point is that with today´s result we gained another place in the constructors' championship. So we ended a very tough season with some strong results. A big thank you goes to the whole team - both here at the track as well as in Munich and Hinwil.”

The team's head of engineering Willy Rampf also hailed Heidfeld's great drive. “Our goal today was to score three points more than Williams and overtake them in the constructors' championship,” Willy said. “This goal was achieved thanks to Nick's great drive and his fifth place.”