Here’s my season overview of BMW Sauber and when and where the numbers came from. This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 will come tomorrow.

When the F1.08 was launched way back in January, it was a radical change from the F1.07 and a big chance to take. I was anxious to see how the car would do on the track, but winter testing just doesn’t reveal a lot. There were quite a few substantial changes to the car between the launch and the Australian Grand Prix and I started to think that this car would be pretty good.

Back to the numbers achieved in 2008 and how they accumulated.

Australian Grand Prix

Australia was everyone’s first taste of what the F1.08 was all about and it didn’t disappoint. Robert Kubica narrowly missed pole and was 2nd on the grid while Nick Heidfeld was 5th. It was a great start to the season.

Heidfeld finished a great 2nd, but on the other side of things, Robert Kubica didn’t finish after being taken out by Kazuki Nakajima while in 5th. The car looked very promising and for the first time we started to see other teams turn their head the BMW Sauber direction.

Nick Heidfeld

“This was a fantastic start to the season for us. The team was working extremely hard to solve the problems we had in the beginning with the F1.08. We made constant progress and we have not exploited the full potential of the car yet. At the start I had too much wheel spin and could not keep Nico Rosberg behind me. I thought it is going to become a difficult race because I expected him to pit earlier. But we stopped on the same lap and our crew did a really great job to get me in front of him. With my second pit stop I was lucky that the safety car didn’t come out earlier and I could refuel as planned. In the last stint I had to take care not to kill the option tyres. Overall the first race without traction control was less difficult than expected.”

Malaysian Grand Prix

This turned out even better for the team although both drivers felt they could have done better in qualifying. Robert qualified 6th and Nick 7th, but after penalties were handed out to Heikki Kovalainen, Lewis Hamilton, and Kazuki Nakajima, Kubica and Heidfeld started 4th and 5th.

Besides the points and podium, the highlight for me was that On lap five, Nick made a great move to pass both David Coulthard and Fernando Alonso at the same time.

There wasn’t the carnage we saw in Australia and in the end, it was Kubica’s turn in 2nd with Heidfeld finishing 6th. Now when I say this was even better than Australia, it sure was. Between the 2 of them they picked up 11 championship points and Nick Heidfeld posted the team’s first fastest lap ever and 2nd was Kubica’s best finish ever. Not only that the team posted back to back 2nd place finishes.

Robert Kubica:

“It’s a fantastic day for the team, for Petronas and for me – the second consecutive podium. After Monza 2006 I finally managed to get another podium myself. I want to thank everybody in the team who worked very hard over the last two months to improve the car. I didn’t have a good start because of too much wheel spin, and was fighting with Nick and Jarno Trulli. I took the dirty inside line and almost lost the car, but somehow I managed to get through the corner and overtake them. From this moment on I drove at my own pace. The Ferraris were too quick, but I was able to increase the gap from the cars following me. After the second pit stop I reduced the revs to save the engine and took it easy. I didn’t feel very well all weekend and it was very hot in the car, so the last ten laps were pretty tough. But it all paid off with a brilliant result.”

Bahrain Grand Prix

More was to come from the BMW Sauber team when Robert captured the team’s first ever pole position and finished 3rd. Nick went on to finish 4th and the team grabbed another fist full of 11 points and found themselves atop the constructors’ standings. After 3 races a BMW Sauber driver had been on the podium each time.

Robert Kubica:

“I am very happy. I missed the chance to take pole position in Australia, but this time it worked out well. My first run in Q3 was quite good, but I made a small mistake in the first corner. The second run was better, although I again made a small mistake in corner 9. We knew before the season that the car was good due to the results of the computer simulation and the wind tunnel work.”

1. BMW Sauber: 30
2. Ferrari: 29
3. McLaren: 28

Things were going pretty well for the team, but it was around this time that we realized Nick was having difficulty getting heat into his tires during qualifying. He managed once again to make it into Q3 finally qualifying 6th.

Nick Heidfeld:

“I can’t be satisfied with sixth. But after I had a lot of difficulties in the practice sessions getting the most out of the tyres and the grip for a single lap, it could have been a lot worse today.”

Monaco Grand Prix

It was rain in Monaco, a place where racing in the rain would make most people say ‘are you kidding me?’ Qualifying again went well for Kubica who continued to drive the &$%* out of the car and qualified in 4th on the second row. In Monaco where passing is suppose to be impossible, qualifying is almost more important than the race itself. Nick, still faltering with his tire problems could only manage 13th, his lowest qualifying yet this season and at Monaco no less.

Mistakes changed the look of the race more than once and one such mistake was admittedly Fernando Alonso’s when he attempted a pass on Heidfeld damaging his car not badly enough to quit, but badly enough where he limped around Monaco and finished 14th 4 laps behind Lewis Hamilton who won the race on a puncture no less.

Robert drove a flawless race when just about every turn someone spun, missed a turn or crashed out. His pace was consistent, he stayed out of trouble and took home 2nd place. Once again another BMW Sauber driver makes the podium.

Canadian Grand Prix

Round 7 in Canada was the best of the best for BMW Sauber when Robert won the race and Nick finished 2nd. It was the first race win for this young 3rd year team and what was even better was to grab the first 2 spots. One two in Canada. The race win for Kubica vaulted him into first place in the drivers championship for the first time and gave BMW Sauber back their second place in the constructors championship.

Robert Kubica:

“I’m very happy at having won the first race for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. I’m also happy for Poland and all my fans. It was a very difficult race for me. I started on the dirty side of the track and Kimi Raikkonen was nearly able to pass me, but I just managed to keep him behind.

Nick Heidfeld:

“Congratulations to Robert for winning this race, which he really deserved! I made a poor start and lost a position to Rubens Barrichello. Fortunately I was able to pass him, and from this moment on I was one of the fastest cars on the track.