BMW: « It is too early to beat Ferrari and McLaren »

Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport director, thinks it is still too early to say if his team can join the battle between McLaren and Ferrari, even though the German team impressed at the Australian Grand Prix.

Robert Kubica narrowly missed pole position in Melbourne and, along with Nick Heidfeld, took second place, equaling the team’s best-ever result.

However, Theissen still cannot determine his team’s standing among the other teams in the race.

When asked if he felt a fight between three teams (Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW-Sauber) now, he stated: « Not yet. »

« I think Ferrari can do much better than what they showed last weekend because everything went wrong for them. I expect the Scuderia to be stronger in Sepang and why not a victory from them. »

« For us, it is important to stay in contact with the other major teams. We need to optimize our car, step by step, and then at some point this season, I am convinced that we will be victorious, » continued Theissen.

« It’s a big challenge, but given the progress we’ve made over the last few weeks, I am confident that we can maintain the development pace. »

Finally, the executive keeps an eye on the performance of Williams and more specifically on its driver Nico Rosberg, who delivered an impressive last race.

« Williams did a great job, especially Nico. The team was almost at the same performance level as BMW, » he concluded.