Following their historic one-two result at Canada's circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld now consider that the BMW Sauber team counts amongst the top performers of Formula One.
Kubica now leads the drivers' championship, four points ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, seven points ahead of World Champion Kimi Raikkonen. After leading earlier in the season, BMW Sauber now stands in second position of the constructors' championship, a mere three points behind Ferrari, a full 17 points clear of third-placed McLaren.
When asked if BMW Sauber became a a top team at the conclusion of the Canadian Grand Prix, which gave the team and Robert Kubica their respective maiden F1 victories, the answer was yes.
"I think when you are leading the World Championship after seven races as a driver, (when) you have a car that can win races and can fight for top positions... So if a team can build a top car, it's a top team," declared Kubica at the post-race press conference on Sunday.
"That's very clear, I think," the Pole added.
His teammate Nick Heidfeld was of the same opinion: "We've been leading the constructors' championship earlier this season, now Robert is leading the world drivers' championship, so we must be a top team by now."
"I think McLaren and Ferrari have made a couple of mistakes this year, they messed up their race here, but nevertheless it also takes a top team and good drivers not to make those mistakes," the German pointed out.
"So I would say yes," he concluded.
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the old adage in the f1 game is 'to finish first, you first have to finish' and no team can claim to be a top team if it cannot do that; a look at some of the results in recent seasons soon shows that finishing most often has a significant impact on which team (and which driver - just ask schuey) becomes champion; so lets congratulate bmw and encourage them to add to the set of 'top teams' to make the whole show more interesting; i'd rather have four teams out there capable of regularly winning races than just one or two; so more power to your elbow, bmw, and williams/benetton, where are you guys?
Agree with Sky H. BMW may be a 3rd team in terms of general pace. However, "failing to finish" doesn't make the team a good team, however fast their cars are. Robert doesn't have to win every race. If he stays on the podium at most race, while Ferarri and McLaren both "fail to finish" from time to time, Robert could become the world champion, making BMW "the top team."
Consistency is an important part of being a top team. And you can't say the BMW cars are slow either.
Why not? It won't be the first time a team wins a championship based on consistency rather than performance. It could happen.
bmw still 3rd team! can only win if ferrari & mclaren fails to finish.
Sounds awfully confident for a bloke who just won his maiden race.... but congrats non the less.
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