BMW’s Year?

With just two podium finishes shared between three drivers in 2006, one can’t say the season was spectacular for BMW Sauber. But when it’s the debut season for a team, that’s a pretty good result. And they definitely showed massive improvement through 2007 and 2008 to become the third-best team snapping at the heels of the top two through the season.

Although BMW Sauber is a new team, their lineage stretches long back to 1970 when Peter Sauber built his first car. The high point for Sauber in motor racing would have been the win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1989.

But in 2006, the hopes were high. BMW had been a part of the F1 world for a while but always as an engine supplier. When they bought over Sauber, they retained Peter Sauber as a consultant and made their foray as a constructor.

With Nick Heidfeld and Jacques Villeneuve as their two drivers, BMW had a good mix of experience and youth. Robert Kubica, the rookie, was the third driver and unknown at the start of the season, he would get to race quite a bit. Among other sponsorship and commercial deals, BMW inked a deal with Intel reasoning that it would help the development of cars on the road in the future.

BMW didn’t exactly blitz the track as the season got underway, but points finishes in two of the first three races did help them gain confidence. This trend of finishing among the points continued as both Heidfeld and Villeneuve got used to the car. But there was trouble around the corner. After a few retirements and a poor result at the French GP, Villeneuve suffered an injury that prevented his return for the rest of the season.

BMW, though, had made some headway and achieved their first podium finish with Heidfeld finishing third in Hungary. And just a race later in Italy, Kubica, who replaced the injured Villeneuve, achieved a second podium finish for BMW. A few more steady results followed, but there were some disappointments too along the way. Villeneuve’s parting with the team wasn’t exactly cordial but he maintained a stoic silence through it all.

At the time, Mario Theissen, the BMW-Sauber chief, said: “After Jacques’ accident in the Hockenheim race the team decided to review its options for next year, including assessing Robert Kubica in a race environment.

There was an interesting innovation tried on by the team in the French GP where they attached two fins to the front of the car (dubbed Twin Towers) to regulate airflow. But the FIA stepped in and banned it citing “potentially dangerous to the driver’s vision”.

BMW ended the year in a respectable 5th overall with 36 points and with development on the car ongoing, their chances look better for 2007. Jacques Villeneuve has since left the team and Robert Kubica, by virtue of a strong finish in 2006, has won himself the second seat alongside Nick Heidfeld.

In Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica, the team has a pair of great drivers. Heidfeld is steady while Kubica takes some risks. As a team, they couldn’t ask for more opposing drivers but both are equally adept at making leaders sweat. The trouble is neither has shown the ability to consistently take and maintain the lead.

2007 was a decent year and 2008 was the almost year. The year when BMW almost made Ferrari and McLaren sweat. When they almost won a race. When they almost had a shot at the title. 2009 could be their year... sans the almost.