Formula One news

BMW has learned lessons for 2009

BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen says his team has learned many important lessons this season that it will heed for the 2009 championship. The team has come in for criticism from some quarters after it decided to focus less on developing is 2008 car after Kubica won the Canadian Grand Prix and instead focus resource on next year's car. 

That decision, some say, prevented BMW from being a legitimate challenger for both this season's drivers' and constructors' championships.

"We are very much looking forward to the final race of 2008 and are aiming to record another good result to round off the season," Theissen said. ""This is the final race in what has been our most successful season since the launch of the BMW Sauber F1 Team. We have achieved our ambitious aims for the third year in succession. We not only proved to be one of the top teams from the outset, we also recorded our maiden race win. It was all the sweeter, of course, that our success in Canada came in the form of a one two."

"As things stand, we have now had 11 podium finishes this year, compared with two in 2007," he added. "This statistic alone is evidence of the considerable steps forward we have made. Added to that, Nick brought us our first fastest race lap in Malaysia, Robert claimed our first pole position in Bahrain, and we've now scored points in 34 consecutive races, something no other team can match. The last time we went home empty-handed from a GP weekend was in Brazil in the final race of 2006."

"In terms of pure performance, we still have ground to make up on Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, and we didn't make the progress we hoped to in the second half of the season," Theissen went on. "Indeed, some of our development projects did not yield the expected performance gains on the track. But I am certain we shall learn the lessons from this for 2009. After all, we want to be up there fighting for the World Championship title next season."

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