Update on BMW Sauber Formula 1 Team
Monday 27th April 2009
Team boss Mario Theissen admits his BMW team needs to taste Formula One success if the German carmaker is to remain in the sport.
After a fantastic Championship in 2008, during which Robert Kubica claimed the team's breakthrough race win and fought for the World title, BMW's form has suffered an alarming slump this season.
Four races into the season, Kubica has yet to score a single World Championship point while team-mate Nick Heidfeld has only scored on only one occasions, his second placed finish (for half points) in Malaysia. Added to that they have also struggled in qualifying with neither driver making it through to the qualifying shoot-out in the last two races.
This has raised some questions about whether BMW will remain in F1 but Theissen says that, for now at least, they are here to stay.
"Formula 1 (for BMW) is valuable," Theissen he told RTL. "Before the season the project was evaluated again in detail and the financial situation was part of the analysis. But in the long-term we also need success."
Theissen revealed that BMW will be introducing major upgrades at the upcoming Spanish GP.
"Partly due to not exploiting the potential of the car in qualifying and partly due to development steps of the other teams," he told Autosport with regards to his team's faltering performances.
"We decided before the start of the season to combine a bigger development package for Barcelona and I can only hope that this will pay off.
"Today, it looks like we are behind but if the package is good the picture can change within two weeks.
"What we have seen now is quite surprising, with new regulations it's a close field. In the fourth race, we have seen the third team which has completely dominated qualifying which is unusual.
"That shows, together with small gaps, that it can change again within a few races.
"The car was very good in Melbourne. Robert could have won that race, although we were not the quickest, but was still quite competitive.
"Apparently other teams made an improvement on a race-by-race basis whereas we are preparing a comprehensive package for Barcelona and I can only hope that we will make a step forward there.
"We will have a sequence of improvements throughout the season but this is the first major one so I have some hopes about it."
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