July 2008 - Boston Chapter BMW CCA

The Next Apex
BMW wins its first Formula 1 Race!
BMW has been the best surprise of the past two years
and the team that everyone is talking about. The team
has been dicing it up with the leading teams since the
beginning of the season and a few F1 insiders were expecting
that given the right circumstances, BMW would win its first
race as a constructor this year (it has already won 19 races as
an engine supplier). It took some help from McLaren’s Lewis
Hamilton who ran into the back of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen,
effectively taking two of the top contenders out of the race.
by Christo Tinkov
BMW has done it! In only its third year as a constructor, BMW has won
its first Formula 1 race. I was lucky enough to be at this historic Grand Prix of
Canada and see all of the action live.
BMW’s Robert Kubica took the lead, drove magnificently
and error-free the entire race and never looked
back. Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW was on a different
fuel strategy, which helped him work his way
up to second place at the finish from ninth on the grid.
Not only did BMW win its first race, it pulled off a 1-2
on its first win!
To top it all off, Robert Kubica’s spectacular win allowed
him to take the lead in the driver points with
just over a third of the season gone. It is the first time
since Jacques Villeneuve in 1997 that a driver from a
team other than McLaren, Ferrari or Renault leads the
points standings. That is a special moment for an upand-coming
team! BMW is also challenging Ferrari for
the constructors’ lead as it is currently only 3 points
behind in second position. According to BMW F1 team
principal Mario Thiessen, the goal for this season was
to win a race. The team is not realistically expected to be
in a position to contend the constructors trophy. With
the main goal for 2008 achieved and 11 races remaining
on the calendar, the team can focus on developing a car
for next season, which should allow them to challenge
for the win in every race.
What I find most impressive about BMW’s progress
as a Formula 1 constructor for the past 3 years is the
thoughtful and disciplined approach to building the
team and the rate at which the team has introduced
and absorbed new technologies. Every one of the manufacturer
teams in F1 has a wind tunnel and powerful
supercomputers but not every team has been able to
put these to good use. Toyota, for example, has been
pouring vast sums of money into F1 for years and does
not have much to show for it. Honda moved from a
backmarker team last year to a midpack team. After
winning the driver’s trophy two years in a row, Renault
has been running midpack as well. BMW’s steady progress
has been absolutely free of drama and setbacks.
Even though the speed of BMW’s F1 cars is still lacking
a couple of tenths per lap compared to Ferrari and
McLaren, BMW is now considered a top team. There is
much more that goes into a team than the raw speed of
its cars - it’s also the cars’ reliability and consistency,
the people in charge of the strategy, the crew chiefs
reacting to changing situations during a race, the pit
crew, which can make or break a race, and the management,
which motivates the drivers and protects them
from overexposure from PR activities.
Together with Monaco and Melbourne, the Montreal
Grand Prix is considered one of the top 3 events on
the F1 calendar. It invariably delivers a dramatic race
and 2008 was no exception. The track is within walking
distance from the downtown area, while the paddock
that backs onto the Olympic rowing basin is one of the
most relaxed and intimate of the season, and Montreal
itself is a great city to visit. This year, the race was extra
special for BMW fans and I am sure many club members
who watched the race popped a new bottle open to
toast BMW and Robert Kubica’s first win in F1. I know
I will be saving the can of beer that I toasted the win
with in a prime spot on my garage shelves for generations
to come. ♦
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