By BMW Sauber F1 Team
October 23 2006

In the final 'Track Talk' of the year, BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen takes stock of the 2006 Formula One season. The German is happy with the results achieved in the BMW Sauber F1 Team's debut season and praises the squad's commitment. Read more... Dear Motor racing enthusiasts,

Since Sunday, the 2006 Formula One season - the first contested by a BMW run team - is history. Time for a balance:

With our BMW Sauber F1 Team, we achieved more than we could have hoped for, in our debut season. This applies - on the one hand - to the results: in the Constructors' Championship, we improved by three positions to finish fifth. 19 times, we succeeded in securing making it to the top ten, in the qualifying sessions and once, we even qualified for second row of the grid. In the 18 rounds of the season, we gained 15 point-finishes and even two podiums, thus clearly exceeding our plan.

But there's something delighting me even more: for the first time, the newly integrated team increased its competitiveness compared to its opponents, over the course of the season, instead of experiencing a decline. That's the best proof of the fact that the measures taken in Munich and Hinwil improved the team's clout.

We succeeded in getting many things off the ground, behind the curtains: regarding the wind tunnel, we moved from one to two shifts and in a few days - earlier than planned, we will run it in a three-shift operation - something that has been the standard at other teams for a long time. We have found strong partners and integrated 100 new employees. All these measures are the result of an extensive work effort. And with Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel we also have got a very promising driver line-up for the future.

All this proves: we are on the right track. Still, we're only in the middle of a two-year build-up plan. A plan with the goal to achieve the top team's performance level. Currently, we haven't achieved this level when it comes to the development area. This applies to both the development pace and the number of projects.

Therefore, it is vital that the team continues coping that well with the double strain represented by the build-up and the on-track competition. The design of the car for 2007 makes good progress. We want to make the next step in 2007: to be able to secure podium finishes by own means. By completing the build-up of team and factory, we should have closed the gap to the top teams in late 2007 - to then be able to battle it out with the front-runners for race wins.

I'd like to thank everybody in the team for the commitment displayed and the work carried out. It definitely was an exhausting season for all of us but it also was an interesting and - above all - thrilling time. I'm looking forward to the challenges this project will have in store for us, in the future. And I'm convinced that we are going to jointly address and master them.

Sincerely,

Mario Theissen