Spain: Any Difference for BMW?

When you look at the covers and headlines of the magazines from the season-break time, almost all of them included BMW as 2009 championship contender.

With everyone’s attention on previous F1 leaders on the back of the grid, is everyone thinking about the Swiss team right now?

Last year, Robert Kubica was surrounded by journalists from all over the world, right now they just passing him to catch Sebastian Vettel.

Nobody cares much about BMW right now. And nobody will, unless they do something to close the gap to the leaders.

After buying Sauber and becoming independent constructor the team made plans for the future.

In 2006, they wanted to have points. They had.

In 2007, they wanted podiums. They had.

In 2008, the wanted their first win. Mission accomplished.

In 2009, they wanted the championships. After four races, they have four points. Neither of the drivers made it into the Q3 in China and Bahrain.

What now? After Kubica’s win in Canada, the team stopped developing the current car and focused on the 2009 contender. It was a little bit controversial, but from the team’s previous experience, everyone knew it was the right move.

The team wanted to be faster than McLaren and Ferrari. Until China GP, they were. Considering that both of the main rivals barely scored points, it doesn’t sound impressive.

BMW's lack of form is probably caused by its lack of upgrades in the opening fly-away races as the team failed to introduce any new parts while their rivals continued to improve their cars.

Everything is going to change this weekend in Spain, as BMW are set to unveil major aerodynamic upgrades for the F1.09.

But what if it won’t change? The thing is that in Spain everybody is going to have updates. Brawns already have a huge advantage in standings. Red Bull is still there and Toyota is hungry for a first win.

The beautiful and awful thing at the same time about Barcelona is that we will know the results on Saturday.

The best way to find Spanish GP interesting is simply to go there. Sunbathing, opening eye every time Ferrari passes you by and then celebrating Kimi’s win with a group of Finnish fans (and alcohol).

Like I did last year.

And although I don’t care for BMW as much as for the other teams, it would be nice for them to pick up some points. After all, Kubica is my countryman.