MONTREAL — After languishing mid-field for many seasons, the BMW Sauber team sits on the cusp of Formula One greatness.
Although the outfit has made incredible gains in the two years since BMW bought the old Sauber entry, taking that final step and challenging front-runners Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes may be the biggest test yet.
"We need to find two- or three-tenths of a second [a lap] and, obviously, they are the hardest to find, especially fighting two teams with more experience and more resources in certain areas than us," BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen said.
"We are no longer No.ƒ|3 any more — we are now one of the top three teams. That's a big achievement and that's where we want to be. We've gotten closer and closer and that means we developed quicker than the top teams up front on the grid."
In 13 seasons in F1, the former Sauber team scored six podium finishes in 201 races. Its best season was 2001, when it finished fourth in the drivers' championship with 21 points. Since BMW took over, the team has posted eight podium finishes and 189 points in 41 starts.
While BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica finished a solid second in both practice sessions yesterday ahead of tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix, the pace wasn't indicative of all the teams.
McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets at 1 minute 15.752 seconds for a lap, 0.271 seconds better than Kubica. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari was third, with Hamilton's teammate Heikki Kovalainen fourth.
As the rest of the field chase the Ferraris and McLaren-Mercedes on and off the track, finding the last two-tenths of a second is not enough, because the top teams usually show up at races with a new part that makes their cars even faster.
In the F1 paddock, if a team's car doesn't get at least 0.5 to 0.75 seconds quicker during the season, the team's drivers will go backwards through the field fast.
That makes moving from a mid-field team to a top outfit an impressive feat.
"The advantage for the big teams is that they can try higher-risk developments where they can spend money without an obvious benefit getting to the car, and that gives them ways of approaching a technical solution that we can't afford," Red Bull technical director Geoff Willis said.
"I think it's really just beholden on us to do the best job making sure we understand what we are trying to do, trying to find the most efficiency, building the minimum number of bits we can to keep the car racing and getting the most out of testing."
Like most of the other teams, BMW Sauber brought several aerodynamic developments to Montreal that had not been used previously in the F1 season, plus some recently introduced items such as front-wheel covers that almost look like hubcaps.
"There is continuous development throughout the season, which improves the car on all the circuits, so that will be certain bits that stay on the car for the season," Theissen said. "And then there's tuning the car to specific track conditions, so we will have very different down-force levels in Canada than we had two weeks before in Monaco."
There's no doubt that getting a major manufacturer behind the Sauber team helped.
It finished in eighth place the year before BMW took over and immediately improved to fifth the next season. It gained another two spots to third in 2007, although it was classified second after the McLaren team was stripped of points because of an employee's involvement in a spying scandal.
The improvements have been steady, but the drivers still don't expect to fight for wins — yet.
"You have to be realistic: In F1, you can't jump straight from eighth to first. The achievements we have made so far have been the maximum we could do," BMW-Sauber driver Nick Heidfeld said.
"We have targeted a win this year and to fight for the championship next season. And I hope we will be on target this season and next season, as we have been over the past couple of years. It is fantastic to see the progress we have made."
Unfortunately for many of the teams chasing the leaders, rule changes for 2009 mean they will start from scratch in some areas. While many structural, suspension and transmission-related developments may be adapted to the 2009 Red Bull challenger, most of the aerodynamic improvements from 2008 will be shelved.
And the reality for teams lower down on the grid means they must sometimes forgo developments that might deliver dramatic gains in performance because of time and cost restraints.
"The key point is for us to focus on the most important things: There are projects that you can estimate can give you a tenth of a second and some of them will give you a one-hundredth of a second. If the one that gives you a hundredth is cheap enough, then you do that," Willis said.
"You don't have to hit just the big developments, you really have to look at the cost benefit and remember that racing is still a business and the most efficient businesses are the most successful ones."
Being successful in F1 means winning, something BMW Sauber can almost taste, especially after Kubica finished second in Monaco two weeks ago.
As BMW reaches the one-third point of the season, it has 12 races — including Montreal — remaining to deliver on its promise to put one of its drivers onto the top step of the podium.
"You cannot plan for victories, but they have to be within reach. And we have come close, and under certain conditions we can win," Theissen said.
"We have gained a lot of experience and the team is very motivated to get there, and I am confident we will bridge that gap."
