After 2 major upgrades to the F1.09 which included a new aero package for Spain, and now more updates to the aero with the addition of a ‘first situation’ double diffuser in Turkey, the results are beginning to show. All you need to do is look at sector times as compared to any of the previous 3 or 4 grand prix to see the difference. The season is not lost, not yet. The championship may be, but respect as a contender once again is not.

The Turkish Grand Prix itself was an exciting race for BMW Sauber in that Kubica and Heidfeld’s starting grid positions were far better than we would have hoped for without this weekends upgrades if they hadn’t had an effect. 10th and 11th on the grid were a major lift to previous frustration and anguish and set the stage for a much better race and indeed that is what we BMW Sauber fans got.

Robert Kubica got off to a great start and avoided any first lap chaos to move up positions where he settled in fairly effectively. Watching his sector times and lap times from lap 1 through lap 30 or so and things were looking good, not great, but good. Kubica held 8th for most of the race (pit stops included) and fought off close challenges from Fernando Alonso and later Timo Glock. Both Toyota and Renault in previous grand prix would have easily passed him being only 4 or 5 10ths behind, but now was not the case. Each stint for Kubica saw personal bests being set and by the 3rd stint, he was making gains on Massa in the Ferrari ahead of him although Massa was over 10 seconds ahead by that time.

Heidfeld wasn’t so lucky. He had a great start as well, but when entering the first corner ran horribly wide when he discovered a brake imbalance severe enough to push the car to one side under breaking. He fell back from 11th to 13th with the problem and throughout the race the team struggled to figure out why. Each stint slowly overcame the problem and by the 3rd stint he was posting lap times easily comparable to Kubica and any of the upper mid field cars, but by that time any hope of points were gone. Disappointing as it was for Heidfeld, he does have the speed and quickness to match Kubica given a clean car so I take away the brake issue and he had a very good race.

Any hopes of a championship are gone now, but the team is relentless in their quest to put out a competitive car for the remainder of the season. Any question of scaling down work on the F1.09 to begin serious development of next years car has been shot down in favor of once again gaining respectability. You just have to watch a race and listen to how little BMW Sauber is mentioned or featured to realize that Brawn and Red Bull for their great performance and Ferrari and McLaren for their fall from grace take up most of the media attention. BMW Sauber aren’t use to this lack of attention and feelings are high that within the next 2 to 3 races they can meet the challenge and be regular points finishers.

All in all the Turkish Grand Prix was their biggest stage yet and they exceeded what they anticipated achieving, points. Just following an impressive qualifying session, Theissen, Heidfeld, and Willy Rampf all stated or at least gave the impression that huge gains had been made, but not enough to finish in the points. Just a few 10th separate the top 8 teams and they felt they fell just outside of that.

It’s on to Silverstone in 2 weeks and Button will be even harder to beat on home soil. Red Bull, especially Vettel after his mistake in Turkey and his feeling his team let him down will be in full charge so the playing field will be even higher. BMW Sauber I can now consider a team that can put up points from this time on.