BMW BLOG

Another bad day at the office just about all you need to say to sum up the British Grand Prix from a BMW Sauber stand point. Once again the car suffered badly with tire heating issues from Friday onward. Robert Kubica had one technical issue after another in every practice session leaving him precious little time to track down the proper setup for the car.

Silverstone was to be another step forward for the team with the introduction of a new front wing design, but it was soon clear that the F1.09 actually took a step backward. Heavy on fuel, no grip, light on fuel no grip and on it went.Starting from P12 for Kubica and P15 for Heidfeld it was clear that either one or both drivers would start the race very heavy on fuel, that fell to Kubica who with the combination of a heavy fuel load and the prime tire option to start the race hopped to gain a few spots through pit stops.

That wasn’t to be the case as once again he could not manage to heat the tires and was painfully slow through cornering and almost 1.5 seconds a lap slower than a blisteringly fast Sebastian Vettel at the front.

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Will BMW Sauber team leave the Formula 1 championship? That seems to be the case, together with the other FOTA members, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, Brawn, Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Toro Rosso, voted to create a series of their own.

There have been months of frustration and endless negotiations between FOTA and FIA, but no mutual agreement could be reached. There were many differences between the two parties, but one of the most important one was related to the budget cap imposed by the FIA president Max Mosley.

“The teams cannot continue to compromise on the fundamental values of the sport and have declined to alter their original conditional entries to the 2010 World Championship,” said a statement issued by FOTA after the meeting.

According to FOTA, “the major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport will all feature in this new series.”

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It was a different story at BMW Sauber than we have been use to this season, a much better story. The upgrade for the F1.09 introduced in Spain along with another updated aero package that included a new double diffuser came together well for a much quicker and better handling car.

Both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica had good things to say about the car throughout the weekend, something we haven’t been use to either. From the get go In Friday’s practice sessions the car seemed quicker and looked more like a top 10 team than the bottom feeder we’ve been use to. Most of Friday was reserved for finding a basic setup for the car and to get the most of the diffuser and by the end of Saturday practice they were confident they had it.

Qualifying was another test for the team and although pole was out of the question, definite improvement was there. Heidfeld and Kubica sailed through Q1 and into Q2 where competition was much stiffer. Both Kubica and Heidfeld consistently posted almost identical lap times, but when time ran out in Q2 Kubica went through in 10th and Heidfeld missed by 5 hundredths of a second and settled for grid position 11. Q3 showed how much the car had really improved with Kubica grabbing 10th on the grid.

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After the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, BMW Sauber were beginning to look toward a brighter finish to the season. They had introduced a massive upgrade to the F1.09 for that race and there was cause to be more positive after looking at the results. Most other teams introduced significant upgrades that weekend as well and although the F1.09 was much better the resulting gain wasn’t as significant.

The next upgrade which includes a new double decker diffuser is to be ready to be introduced for Istanbul Turkey in 2 weeks time. This left the Monaco Grand Prix this past weekend with the upgrades from Spain only. Monaco, with its many slow speed corners will magnify any downforce problems a car has problems by 10 and this was what was awaiting BMW Sauber.

Right from the start on Thursday free practice it was clear Monaco would have the better of the F1.09 no matter who were to drive it. Practice times were very much off the pace and it didn’t matter what setup was used or weather they used the soft or super soft tires. The car was slow.

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This past weekend was the Spanish Grand Prix and was also the first race for the new development package for the F1.09. It was a long wait for this upgrade, one needed in a bad way and hopefully the first step in getting the team on par with the series leaders.

The F1.09 has been terribly low on grip from a lack of downforce and because of that the upgrades included a redesigned front nose much higher allowing for more air flow under the car, modified sidepods and a completely new rear wing. This new package also meant that the KERS system currently used was to large to fit in the smaller spaces created and would be left out. This was actually a good think allowing the team to concentrate on getting to know this new aero package.

Friday practice now took on the feel of a testing session due to the no in season testing and a car that had no track time. In the first free practice session when the leaderboard isn’t really indicative of much, both drivers managed good times in the 1 minute 22 range which already would put them higher in the order than the past 3 races. Unfortunately in the first session Nick Heidfeld suffered a brake problem and didn’t get the track time needed.

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The Tire Rack One Lap of America is the toughest 8 days of racing featuring the fastest street-legal cars on America’s most challenging racetracks. The competition started last week back in our home state, Illinois and ended yesterday after the 63 drivers traveled 3,265 miles.

One of the autocross events during the 2009 challenge took place at the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina and as usual, our friend Palbay was there to snap some photos of the multiple BMWs present there.

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The BMW M3 GT4, the youngest addition to the Customer Racing product range offered by the BMW Motorsport Distribution division, will line up at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife on 23rd/24th May 2009.

But prior to this, the M3 GT4 together with the amazingly good looking Alpina B6 GT3 race car, made their appearance at the FIA GT meeting this past weekend at the famous Silverstone race track in the U.K.

Thanks to one of our long-time and loyal readers, Matt S., we bring you some breathtaking photos of these cars, along with some others of course…..ooops, including the Audi R8 - yes, despite being huge BMW fans, we still love the R8.

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Going into the Bahrain Grand Prix it was accepted that it would be another tough weekend for BMW Sauber. Malaysia and China proved beyond a doubt that the F1.09 was not where the team had expected it and in fact it is not a top 12 car.

That said Friday practice started surprisingly well when using the super soft compound tires. After free practice 1 both Heidfeld and Kubica sat 2nd and 3rd on the time charts, but unfortunately that didn’t last and by the end of free practice session 2 and Saturday morning practice, the car was once again over a second a lap off the pace.

When it came time for qualifying Saturday afternoon, the best the team could hope for would be decent placings in Q2, but not good enough to make it through to the final 10 pole shootout. This scenario was exactly what happened as Robert Kubica qualified 13th and Nick Heidfeld qualified 14th.

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BMW Sauber has sunk in the puddles to an all time low with the Chinese Grand Prix and something needs to be done asap. Less talk from Mario Theissen about diffusers and more work to be competitive.

Nick Heidfeld lined up on the grid in 11th place after getting everything out of the car with the best lap he could. KERS probably was the only reason he made it through to session 2 as the car lacked overall grip and neither the choice of super soft or soft tire choice mattered.

As far as Robert Kubica was concerned, he was not happy with the car from the time it landed in China and he was pinning his hopes that fitting his car with the KERS device for the first time this season would help. He hadn’t used the device because of it’s added weight which combined with his extra weight being a heavier driver left little room for ballast to balance out the car. Adding KERS for China almost seemed like a desperation move and after testing it out in Friday practice it was quickly removed proving it was a waste of time.

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Long Beach, Calif. – April 18, 2009… With a third-place GT2 class finish by the No. 92 M3 of Tommy Milner and Dirk Müller in the Tequila Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach the BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team reached the ALMS podium for the second consecutive race. The duo completed 70 laps around the 1.968-mile temporary street circuit in the one-hour-and-forty-minute contest.
Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand scored their first points of the season, finishing eighth in the No. 90 M3 after losing four laps following a collision with a lapped competitor just past the one-hour mark.

Today’s finish moves BMW to fourth in GT2 Manufacturer points. Milner and Müller now stand fifth in GT2 Driver points.

The race began under a bright Southern California sun with a track temperature of 100.4 F, as Tommy Milner started the No. 92 M3 from third and Bill Auberlen behind the wheel of the No. 90 M3 in fourth.

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