BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen has said the team can be "truly proud" of what they have achieved during the 2008 season.
Mission accomplished for Swiss-German team
BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen has said the team can be "truly proud" of what they have achieved during the 2008 Formula One season.
The Swiss-German outfit went into this year's campaign with the stated aim of achieving their first victory, a feat realised in June when Robert Kubica led home team-mate Nick Heidfeld to win the Canadian Grand Prix.
Kubica led the Drivers' Championship following the breakthrough and remained in contention until last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.
With the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix still to be run, BMW Sauber have also long cemented third place in the Constructors' Championship, their F1.08 car showing pace particularly during the first half of the season.
Theissen was especially pleased by the manner in which the team quickly managed to overcome the car's disappointing early tests, in which it suffered poor balance.
"The season finale at Sao Paulo has not yet been contested but we don't have to wait until the season is over to say that we can be truly proud of what we have achieved in 2008, with our BMW Sauber F1 Team," he said.
"We wanted to turn the duel at the front end of the grid into a three-way battle and we succeeded in doing so. We established ourselves as one of Formula One's top teams right from the beginning of the season.
"During the difficult off-season tests, following the BMW Sauber F1.08 launch in Valencia, nobody would have believed that we would ultimately be title contenders in both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, right up to the penultimate round of the season.
"Furthermore, we wanted to secure our maiden Grand Prix win in 2008 - and realised this goal too. And the fact that we did so by celebrating a one-two in Montreal, represented the icing on the cake.
"We have secured a total of eleven podium finishes - nine more than in 2007. This fact alone demonstrates the big step we have made. And who knows why we cannot add another one to make it a dozen in Brazil?"
Ingredients
Theissen said the ingredients of their 2008 success were "perfect reliability, a usually excellent race strategy, perfect work during the pit stops and a very low error rate from our drivers".
He also admitted that BMW Sauber "still have to make a step forward, performance-wise, compared to Ferrari and McLaren" and regretted the fact that the team fell off the pace somewhat during the second half of the season.
Nevertheless, Theissen signed off in bullish mood, adding that "next year, we want to become a factor in the battle for the title".
