Despite recent signs that BMW Sauber is making improvements to its 2008 car, the German team’s drivers are not expecting to challenge Ferrari and McLaren for race wins early this season.
As he began the penultimate test of the pre-season at Jerez on Tuesday, the Swiss newspaper Blick quoted Nick Heidfeld as predicting more time as F1’s third force in 2008.
“We have not moved closer to McLaren and Ferrari,” he reported, adding that the F1.08 does, however, appear to narrowly have an edge on close challengers Renault, Williams and Red Bull.
Heidfeld’s Polish teammate, Robert Kubica, confirmed in Spain: “Yes, we still have problems.
“The car is too unstable,” he added, also explaining the untrustworthiness of relying on test time sheets.
Kubica said: “Sometimes, we are not as good as the time sheets show us to be. And at other times we are better than the times suggest.”
