McLaren looks towards 2010, BMW insists on 2009

While the BMW team is going through a difficult period, its boss, Mario Theissen, states that all resources are still focused on 2009 and thinking about 2010 is not an option. His words contradict those of Martin Whitmarsh, team principal of McLaren, as the Woking team is concentrating on the next season.

The title chances for BMW-Sauber are quite slim because the F1.09 simply does not measure up alongside the Brawn or Red Bull. However, Theissen has committed to maintaining pressure on the development of the current car.

The team introduced their version of a double diffuser for the first time in Turkey last weekend, which likely allowed Robert Kubica to score his first points of the year.

And although victories still seem out of reach for now, Theissen explains that there is no reason to abandon efforts for this year to focus on 2010.

« I have often wondered these days if it might not be better to simply stop working on improving the F1.09 and to fully focus on our 2010 car, » said Theissen on the official BMW-Sauber website.

« But this does not represent an option for us. We are not going to give up on the current season, far from it. »

« We have increased our development pace and will bring significant improvements to the car at every race. An upgrade to the double diffuser is also expected. »

« At the end of the season, we want to be able to say: ‘We had a disappointing start to the season, but we managed to turn things around to be back at the front of the grid’, » continued the German.

Theissen hopes his team will start making good progress in this area now that the double diffuser is on the F1.09.

« Our car was fast enough in Istanbul to ultimately score points without having to take advantage of on-track incidents or the misfortune of other drivers. Obviously, this is not enough to satisfy the team, but it represents a base. »

At the same time, Martin Whitmarsh believes that the next goal for McLaren is to focus on developing the car to be used for the 2010 World Championship. Although there are nine months left before the start of the next season, the team believes that focusing more on 2010 would alleviate the pain of a poor 2009 season.

After a driver title last year, the first since 1999, it has now been eleven years since McLaren last won a Constructors’ title. The silver arrows are lacking downforce, particularly on high-speed circuits. As a result, McLaren is 83 points behind the leader Brawn GP.

« Jenson Button seems in great shape and I am sure he deserves it, » said Whitmarsh. « He really had some dark years, and now he’s doing a fantastic job. He’s in a competitive car and I think he will be the world champion. »

« As far as we are concerned, we need to be strong next year. For this, we must apply the appropriate resources. I think McLaren or Ferrari are experiencing the consequences of what has happened over the past few years. At the same time, we are a racing team and we are going to try to win a race this year. »

Whitmarsh has been at the head of McLaren F1 in place of Ron Dennis for only a few months.

« We will continue to work on the current car and ensure that we allocate sufficient resources to next year’s single-seater. »