BMW Sauber F1.08

Finalizing the triumberant of Formula 1 launches in “Der Fatherland,” BMW Sauber debuted its 2008 challenger, the F1.08 at the companies new Delivery Centre in Munich.

BMW claims to have made a radical evolution with the new ’08 chassis and is targeting its first Grand Prix victory this season…

More on Kubica’s shunt

I still cannot believe that BMW Sauber F1 driver Robert Kubica walked away from his monstrous shunt in Canada with nothing more than a concussion and sprained ankle.

That’s why it’s even more impressive upon learning that Kubica’s impact with the concrete wall registered 75G’s! After launching himself over Jarno Trulli’s rear wheel, Kubica slammed into the wall at 143mph! Yet even more impressive is the fact that Kubica will return to the cockpit for this weekend’s French GP…

Kubica stands down

Although Robert Kubica deemed himself fully recovered from his massive shunt at Montreal. Doctor’s felt differently upon the matter and decided on not giving Kubica the green light to compete in this weekend’s USGP.

Therefore BMW Sauber has decided to call up Sebastian Vettel, the 19 year old “Wunderkind” as Kubica’s replacement. The young German has impressed in the past as a Friday test driver. Yet Vettel remains a Red Bull contracted driver, who hold first option upon his services while he test drives for BMW Sauber…

Kubica walks away

I still cannot believe that Robert Kubica suffered nothing further than a concussion and sprained ankle from the horrific accident he suffered at Montreal! Apparently this goes to show once again how impressive the chassis are constructed and the peak physical conditioning race drivers maintain. Even more surprising to me is that Kubica is eager to race at this weekend’s USGP…

Heidfeld to run Nordschleife

Interestingly Nick Heidfeld is set to run a BMW Sauber F1.07 around the famed “Green Hella” next month. This will be the very first time a Formula 1 car has circumnavigated the 14.7 mile historic track since Niki Lauda’s fiery crash…

BMW Sauber F1.07

BMW-Sauber has just launched the teams newest challenger, the F1.07 at Valencia’s expo center where the team’s 4 drivers were on hand for the unveiling of BMW’s first all new Formula 1 race car…

To read about McLaren-Mercedes 2007 Launch, see: McLaren MP4/22

Super Albert

BMW-Sauber’s team principal Dr. Mario Theissen, who was responsible for enticing BMW into purchasing Peter Sauber’s Formula 1 team, continues looking for alternative strategies to lead his team to the forefront…

And I find Theissen’s methods refreshing, since he seems determined to reach the front of the grid. Although he uses all the right buzz words like “thinking outside the box.” Theissen is the ultimate taskmaster, keeping his staff’s noses to the grindstone…

The BMW-Sauber team has quietly gone about the business of marching to the front by leapfrogging Formula 1 giant Toyota in the Constructor’s championship during its debut season…

While the simple answer in Formula 1 is to add another wind tunnel, BMW has instead completed installation of Albert 2.

Not to be confused with Fat Albert… Albert 2 is one of the world’s most powerful super computers and BMW-Sauber will utilize it to run CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) for Aerodynical computations…

Although Theissen says that outright race victories aren’t BMW-Sauber’s target for 2007, the team would like to continue vying for podiums and be ready to pounce if any of the “Big Four” falter…

In regards to the team utilizing Albert 2, I surely hope Theissen. won’t be heard saying “Open the Pod Bay Doors Albert!”

BMW’s new Glock

BMW-Sauber F1 has confirmed Timo Glock as its second test driver for 2007. Glock will partner the teams test and reserve driver Sebastian Vettel. Glock will continue competing in the GP2 Championship along with his BMW-Sauber testing duties…

Zanardi drives BMW

Alex Zanardi made his long awaited return to a Formula 1 cockpit over the weekend at Valencia, during the Formula BMW World Finals. A change in Zanardi’s schedule allowed the Italian to test drive the modified BMW-Sauber C24B earlier then planned. Zanardi tortured his wet weather tires during a three laps spin on Thursday…

Car modifications included using Jacques Villeneuve’s steering wheel and moving the brake pedal to the opposite side of the cockpit to enable better braking. Villeneuve preferred doing all his shifting with his right hand…

On Saturday, after the engine stalled during the first session, Zanardi completed 17 laps. Zanardi nearly matched current BMW-Sauber F1 test driver Sebastian Vettel’s times after shaving 8 seconds off his lap times, less then 1 second behind Vettel…

Red Bull really does “Give you Wings”

While the majority of the media spotlight focuses on his fellow countryman Michael Schumacher, another German is making waves. BMW-Sauber’s new Friday third driver Sebastian Vettel became the youngest driver ever to take the wheel of an F1 car at age 19 in Istanbul, Turkey. Vettel also became the fastest to ever be fined by FIA for speeding through the pit lane in his haste to be first onto track during Friday’s practice session.
Although Friday third drivers have unlimited rev’s, light fuel tanks and multiple sets of tyres, Vettel has made the most of his opportunity by topping the time sheets on his first two Friday practice sessions.
(Friday-Practise 2)
Vettel made his name in Formula BMW, winning the rookie title in 2003. The following season he easily captured the championship while winning 18 of 20 events. In 2005 he moved up to Formula 3 Euroseries where he claimed another rookie title. Vettel won the Hockenheim & Nurburgring rounds this season prior to joining BMW-Sauber. Currently under contract to Red Bull, expect Vettel move to BMW-Sauber full time next season…