Bmw Sauber

[5P33D3V1L 0]

If you told me this would happen in winter testing,

I would of laughed in your face.

Heidfeld also 2nd in the drivers standings.

Hope they can carry on with they're consistancy and flashes of pace, Im sure they will win a race this season too.

I guess you could call me a BMW fan now

[F1 FANatic 1]

they did it right. Honda, Toyota, all of those guys thought they could just come into F1 and win right off the bat. BMW knew better and are getting better every season, every race, every lap. Small victories at a time lead to big ones down the road. F1 is a marathon and BMW have been the only ones to have realized that the last few years.

They have already shown that they can get pole, be on podium consistently, and hang with Ferrari and Meclaren lap time wise. It is only a matter of time until they win. They already are a thorn in the side of Ferrari and Meclaren right now.

[Quiet One 15]

This sounds strange? Bah. I saw Dr.Mario actually smile today!!! Now that's even more weird. Gave me the creeps.

[AleHop 0]

Very good weekend for BMW-Sauber.

Heidfeld did very well during the race and Kubica had some problems in the first lap but all in all they are a strong team.

Car: Ferrari, BMW, McLaren

Drivers: BMW, Ferrari, McLaren

[elgo 1]

Indeed,BMW are threating the big two,the drivers championship is also worth a look:

01 Kimi R

[F1 FANatic 1]

the BMW drivers can very easily pull a Hamilton from last year. Just collect points by being on the podium and taking advantage of other peoples mistakes.

[Null 0]

That's exactly what I said to my brother today, even if BMW and the drivers can't win a race, just by being this consistent, they can do very well indeed. BMW always tend to understate themselves in testing, I think in many cases (save for when they have real problems) they do it intentionally, to not let people know where they're at; there have been a few times I've been worried about their pace, but they've done much better than expected, given our knowledge of their testing. I also said today to my brother, (almost definately won't happen sadly) wouldn't it be funny if Heidfeld won the WDC, given all people could talk about pre-season was kimi, massa and lewis?!

I remember Nick saying when the Sauber team had re-branded into BMW Sauber in winter testing 2005 that BMW's first win won't come until 2008, all we can do now is wait, and hope this recent success doesn't fade, but blossoms.

[mikathegreat2 2]

BMW Sauber have surprised everyone & they might get a win but after seeing Kubica being on pole & dropping down to 2nd before turn 1 then Kimi overtaking him soon after, it might take a little time!

[Piotr 0]

BMW Sauber have surprised everyone & they might get a win but after seeing Kubica being on pole & dropping down to 2nd before turn 1 then Kimi overtaking him soon after, it might take a little time!

then look at him fight with Massa last year in Japan, and reconsider. How manny places did Hamilton drop???

[Piotr 0]

This sounds strange? Bah. I saw Dr.Mario actually smile today!!! Now that's even more weird. Gave me the creeps.

He actually shouted on Saturday. He MAY be human after all...

[Eric 0]

ithinksothatforsurebmwisforsureverygoodteamforsuretheyareithinksothattheymaybeth

efuturebutforsureasktheteam

No, there was no good reason for the Kimi speak. But I decided that since this post was going to be boring any way, I'd just go all out with the boringosity.

[Null 0]

then look at him fight with Massa last year in Japan, and reconsider.

I love that so much, it's one of my favourite moments from recent F1 history!

[5P33D3V1L 0]

I love that so much, it's one of my favourite moments from recent F1 history!

Same! That made my season for me. If only that happened in every race. All I wanted was one more lap in Fuji so Massa and Kubica could continue

BMW will win a race this season Im sure of it.

I think BMW has a faster car than Mclaren. But a few tenths shy of Ferrari.

But in terms of driver ability. BMW/Ferrari/Mclaren are equal.

Except Kimi is obviously the fastest out of the 6 just ahead of Lewis and Kova.

Massa the most inconsistant.

Heidfeld the most consistant and Kubica... too me the jury is still out. He's not quite consistant enough but he sure is fast.

[goferrarigo 0]

Same! That made my season for me. If only that happened in every race. All I wanted was one more lap in Fuji so Massa and Kubica could continue

BMW will win a race this season Im sure of it.

I think BMW has a faster car than Mclaren. But a few tenths shy of Ferrari.

But in terms of driver ability. BMW/Ferrari/Mclaren are equal.

Except Kimi is obviously the fastest out of the 6 just ahead of Lewis and Kova.

Massa the most inconsistant.

Heidfeld the most consistant and Kubica... too me the jury is still out. He's not quite consistant enough but he sure is fast.

Only 3 races done and your saying who is consistent and who isn't?? The WDC or WCC for that matter is far from decided yet...

[Rainmaster 7]

This sounds strange? Bah. I saw Dr.Mario actually smile today!!! Now that's even more weird. Gave me the creeps.

The one bad thing about Honda's improvement, Nick Fry smiling more...

Only 3 races done and your saying who is consistent and who isn't?? The WDC or WCC for that matter is far from decided yet...

I bet Hammy or Kimi, 9 times out of 10 it's the guy who wins the 1st or 2nd race.

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

Unless Mclaren can get their acts together it's Kimi's to lose at this moment in time. This race flattered BMW more than it should have. Ferrari would have run away but they were running their engines for a second difficult races they backed off noticably. Next race they'll make that fresh engine advantage tell even more. The only thing that really interested me was that the Ferrari has such awesome traction out of turns. That's going to swing the 'Mclaren' tracks of last year in their favour quite noticably. At this moment in time it's going to take some serious development to get the MP4-23 where it should be.

[Jean Todt 4]

BMW POWER

[Eric 0]

BMW POWER SUCKS

Agreed. German cars can kiss my a##.

[5P33D3V1L 0]

Only 3 races done and your saying who is consistent and who isn't?? The WDC or WCC for that matter is far from decided yet...

Ive made those judgements on the past few seasons.

I mean its pretty clear Massa is quite irratic.

And Heidfeld is a very reliable driver.

So I havent just judged it on 3 races this season.

Though its clear BMW are challenging Mclaren.

Ferrari is too far ahead though.

[Jean Todt 4]

Agreed. German cars can kiss my a##.

[Halfie 0]

I have huge respect for what BMW Suaber have done, being a Mclaren fan I am happy that they are becoming contenders. To the poster who said that BMW did everything the right way, not like Honda and Toyota I totally agree. I would be happy to see a BMW win this year - I respect them for what they have achieved to date, and what they will no doubt continue to achieve.

Great team and drivers I think.

Hopefully will take some points from Ferrari too!

[aussief1 4]

Great job by BMW - Sauber, I am really happy for them at the moment especially for Peter Sauber.

A win should be on the cards this year maybe even on outright pace rather than attrition.

The aero upgrades that are in the pipeline for Spain will give us a good intial indication if the early development of the F1.08 is on par with the MP4-23 and F2008, if BMW are in the hunt in Spain which they should well be then the WCC will be very interesting indeed. The only slight hesitation or fear that I have is if the development may not be there is becasue of the balance issues they suffered throughout winter testing.

[goferrarigo 0]

Great job by BMW - Sauber, I am really happy for them at the moment especially for Peter Sauber.

A win should be on the cards this year maybe even on outright pace rather than attrition.

The aero upgrades that are in the pipeline for Spain will give us a good intial indication if the early development of the F1.08 is on par with the MP4-23 and F2008, if BMW are in the hunt in Spain which they should well be then the WCC will be very interesting indeed. The only slight hesitation or fear that I have is if the development may not be there is becasue of the balance issues they suffered throughout winter testing.

I think Mclarens CEO, (Whitemarsh is it?) said that he doesn't think they will stay in contension much longer...

Almost all teams are getting aero improvements for Europe so lets see what happens...

[Piotr 0]

Unless Mclaren can get their acts together it's Kimi's to lose at this moment in time. This race flattered BMW more than it should have. Ferrari would have run away but they were running their engines for a second difficult races they backed off noticably. Next race they'll make that fresh engine advantage tell even more. The only thing that really interested me was that the Ferrari has such awesome traction out of turns. That's going to swing the 'Mclaren' tracks of last year in their favour quite noticably. At this moment in time it's going to take some serious development to get the MP4-23 where it should be.

Are we talking a lap speed, a race speed, or a season speed? This is an 18-race season, and reliability will win it with speed as an added bonus. That's why Heidfeld is second and BMW is first at this time. BUT, don't forget that BMW set the fastest lap Sepang as well. So if Ferrari has to turn down the engines during the second race, that's affecting their race speed, because if they don't trust their engines to last 2 races at a 100%, I think BMW has a clear advantage over the course of the season (if they CAN run their engine 100% both races), wouldn't you say?

[Elizabeth Sterling 0]

...no? Guess who set the fastest lap in 2006 at Bahrain? Nico Rosberg. Guess how much he challenged for the title that year? Not much really.

The point is the Ferrari engines are out of phase. BMW were running fresh engines, Ferrari old. Besides, we don't know that Ferrari had to turn down their engines, we just know that the could afford to and still get a 1 - 2 finish. Face it, they weren't even trying that hard. Don't you think it's just a little telling that with it being so supposedly hard to overtake in F1 and with the BMW having such good traction that Kimi picked off Robert so quickly and effortlessly? An off-colour Kimi Raikkonen at that. It's all well and good talking about reliability but they were never a serious threat to win the race and when that has been the case for the first three races of the year you can't expect anyone to believe there's a signficant threat to Ferrari just yet. Besides, these two races are the two toughest races on engines back to back, if you can get both units to survive those without any failures you're doing pretty well..