Posts Tagged BMW Sauber

BMW is aiming to win the championship in 2009. As simple as that. It has achieved every goal it has set itself so far – points in 2007 and a win in 2008. The team had abandoned developing its 2008 car the minute it won a race, with Robert Kubica’s maiden win in Canada. This really annoyed him, but the team never had a realistic chance of winning the championship in 2008. Thus, for 2009, the team has the best-developed car, with it having run “mule” cars with the 2009-spec aero package even before the 2008 season ended.

BMW calls their 2009 challenger the F1.09, and has developed an electric KERS system for the car. The team will be running KERS from the first race of the season. The car has shown a lot of promise during testing, being only a couple of tenths behind the dominant Ferrari (and of course the Brawn).

The team maintains the drivers it had for 2008. Robert Kubica probably has the most backing from the team, having shown consistently strong performances throughout his relative short career. He proved his mettle after rebounding from his horrific crash at the 2007 Canadian GP. Nick Heidfeld has shown that he has talent. However he proved that he can be inconsistent at times, and will most probably support Kubica’s title hopes.

BMW will be a front-running team in 2009, there is no doubt about that. With the McLaren falling behind, and probably understanding their car better than other team, the team has a very real chance of winning either or maybe both titles this year.