BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen has denied reports that this year's championship will be Nick Heidfeld's last with BMW Sauber.
Team's driver line-up "is traditionally decided in September"
BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen has denied reports that this year's championship will be Nick Heidfeld's last as a BMW Sauber driver.
The German joined the team at the beginning of the 2006 season and has enjoyed mixed success with the German manufacturer.
BMW Sauber enjoyed their best-ever season in 2008, finishing third in the constructors' championship, with Heidfeld finishing sixth in the drivers' standings.
This year, though, there has been little to smile about at BMW - the team's form having taken a sharp turn for the worse.
Even though Heidfeld is the only BMW Sauber driver to have scored points so far this season after finishing second in the rain-shortened Malaysian Grand Prix, a rumour in the German press has suggested he could be dropped when his contract expires at the end of the season.
However, Theissen has dismissed the claim and said that improving the performance of the team's F1.09 car was their biggest priority.
"First of all, I haven't read it. And even if I had read it I wouldn't make any comment and wouldn't react to it," he told
autosport.com.
"As far as our present driver line-up is concerned I am not prepared to say anything negative.
"At the end of the day we can only talk about that when we are fast again and our driver line-up for the next year is traditionally decided in September."
