BMW: We're As Fast As McLaren, But Behind Ferrari

(FROM AUTOSPORT)

INTERVIEW WITH WILLY RAMPF OF BMW

Q. The positions in Barcelona were not as good as Bahrain, but pace-wise it seemed encouraging. How do you judge the weekend?

Willy Rampf: We expected more from Robert. I thought we would achieve a podium with Robert with the performance we had in qualifying, and we knew the performance between us and McLaren would be very close. Here were are talking about one tenth more or less, and this is also what we saw during the race today.

The race was decided more or less before the first corner, because we lost our position against Hamilton and throughout the race we had the same pace, we even had the same strategy by accident, and we were not close enough to jump him on a pitstop. Our pitstops were a bit quicker than his ones, by about half a second, and with a two second gap you don't make it.

Q. Was the weekend just a tale of qualifying?

WR: Even if you take the first four cars, and you see the quickest race time. It is the same order like the finish. It is that the competition is very close, it is very tight, but this is what we want.

Q. Do you still feel BMW Sauber are in the mix with Ferrari and McLaren?

WR: Yes. Ferrari are still ahead of us and ahead of McLaren, and with McLaren we are very close. In race one they were ahead of us, in race two slightly and in race three we were quicker and in race number four we are equal to McLaren. Now it is between the two teams to see who can make the next bigger step. To fight against Ferrari will be very difficult because they are a few tenths ahead. Two tenths is not enough.

Q. What is the situation with your start systems. Robert has talked about a problem of consistency?

WR: Yes. I think we are on top of it for the next race. If you compare the two starts. Robert had too much wheelspin. His initial start was okay but then he lost. Nick gained two positions because he had a good start, he just managed it. And it was fairly easy to gain position.

Q. So do you need to make any modifications to it?

WR: No. We have to see on the clutch, but the rest is really practicing.

Q. There was some talk in the SWG this week about a possible change to the safety car rules, and the possibility of changing the way the pitlane closed. You lost out on that matter today. What is your feeling on what should be done?

WR: I think in general, if the FIA applies a rule like this there is a reason for it, usually because of an incident that happened in the past. But after four races, there were two races where teams lost out without being able to do anything about it. And I am sure it will be discussed more in detail in the future. For sure the FIA is open to re-discuss it and maybe re-tune the regulations.

Q. Renault have shown a step forward this weekend, and also that they are willing to be quite aggressive on their strategy. Does that make life more difficult?

WR: Not really. From the performance, they made a good step forward from the qualifying performance, it was clear that Alonso was on low fuel. And on race pace we saw that he was not really pulling away after the pitstop to be in the race any more.

Q. Robert appears to be more comfortable in the car at the moment. Has Nick not gelled with the F1.08?

WR: Why, I don't know. If you compare the qualifying, there is a performance difference but it is four races and I am sure that at the end of the season they will be equal in performance. I don't have a concern about this.

Q. What are your prospects for Turkey?

WR: We are looking forward to it because Turkey is a slightly difference downforce level, it is a lower downforce level compared to Barcelona. It is overall a very nice track, a demanding track. We are looking forward to Istanbul.

Q. Any steps planned?

WR: Not big steps. We will continue with our development but it is also a slightly difference downforce level, so just to suit this track you have to develop different parts to Barcelona.

 

Agree they are as fast. If they get a good start procedure working, at tracks like Barcelona where passing is difficult, they will hold position. Mclaren are lucky right now Kubica is a terrible starter. He did as good a job as Hamilton except for the start and he is well placed to surpass LH if they can start well and continue to gain a bit of pace. There is only 1 point between Kubica and LH and it is an exciting battle for them.

 

Thanks for the article Ron.

 

Tony, thanks for the comment.

This may be true, BMW as fast as McLaren. Certainly I want Ferrari to win both championships, but I am a race fan, I would love to see F1 become as competitive as NASCAR. Can you imagine, 4-5 cars, last lap, all within .005 seconds of each other, and the winner actually passes another car to be in the lead!!

Crap, this could never happen in F1.

Not until they build road courses that allow for passing, and this is not going to happen as long as Bernie wants a fortune to put on an F1 race.

I can dream.

 

You never know, look at the 1982 Season when 5 Teams could have won, and Ferrari won the constructors, should have been WDC as well. Unfortunately, both Villeneuve and Pironi met a sad demise.

 

Ferrari have the edge at the min and probably will maintain it, but they aint got it in the bag IMO, as the bench mark they have set is still within reaching distance. As for Mc and the rest it appears closer now than it's been for a long while, so as for that side of thing's, it's looking good for a bit a wheel to wheel combat.

 

Seeing that McLaren are no longer running the 3rd and 4th Ferraris (like last year) their true speed is beginning to show.