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F1: Theissen Not Worried About BMW’s Gearbox Issues
Written by: Adam Cooper   http://www.speedtv.com
03/14/2007
Melbourne, Australia
 


Theissen believes BMW is one of the top-four teams form-wise ahead of the Melbourne debut. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos

BMW boss Mario Theissen says he is not worried about the gearbox problems that have plagued the team's preparations for this season.

In common with most other teams BMW has moved to a seamless shift box this year, made alongside the engine in Munich rather than at Hinwil. It proved troublesome throughout testing, and because of that rivals impressed by the car's consistent pace have tended to dismiss BMW as an immediate threat in race conditions. However, Theissen insists that the team is now on top of the situation.



Catch up on the latest Formula 1 developments each month in RACER. Check out our look at how Kimi Raikkonen settled in at Ferrari over the winter in our April issue, on sale now!


"I'm confident," he told SPEEDtv.com in Melbourne. "We had to deal with these issues right from the beginning of winter testing. Basically it was all about the new single shift transmission. Apparently it is a very complex system – mechanical issues, hydraulic issues, and electronic issues. And in this order you get aware of them. First, everything crashes, that's the mechanical issues, and as you try to fix them you get behind all the other things as well.

"The critical or the crucial thing is the precise timing of all the actions under all operating conditions, and that it what we had to learn, because if you have a system consisting of mechanical parts, hydraulics and electronics, under the different operating conditions – for instance temperature, wear, and other influences – you have to adapt the timing of shifting. That was something we had to learn, and we learned during winter testing."

Although many observers think BMW might be Ferrari's closest challenger, Theissen played down expectations.

"I think it's not the top three at the moment. I see Ferrari having an advantage, and then I see three other teams, McLaren, Renault and nicely enough, our team. So currently I think we are among the top four.

"The best data we have is from Bahrain, and Williams didn't attend. And after Bahrain all the teams have put new parts on the car for this weekend, us as well of course.
So we have just to wait and see how it looks in qualifying."

On Friday morning in Melbourne third driver Sebastien Vettel will take the place of Robert Kubica as BMW pursues its controversial policy of taking advantage of the rule that allows a race driver to sit out one of the sessions. Neither Kubica nor teammate Nick Heidfeld are very happy about having to give up seat time. However, Theissen believes that under the more relaxed rules even one session will be enough for the "displaced" race driver.

"I understand that. I think it is overestimated, because even with losing one session or not attending one session on Friday there is still much more left on Friday than there used to be last year. We had limited time and we had the engine mileage restriction last year.

"I looked it up, and on average our drivers did about 14 laps in both sessions on Friday. Now they can do 40 in only one session now. The only open issue is weather conditions, and we certainly will take that into account and might switch our strategy due to weather conditions."

Although the obvious answer to that is while 40 laps is a lot the 80 that can be potentially run by other drivers is even better, Theissen doesn't see the restricted mileage it as handicap: "I don't expect anybody to full exploit three hours of driving."

He says that as ever tires will be the main focus on Fridays.

"It will mainly about setting up the car and comparing the tires, and deciding on race strategy, because you have to use both tires. It's something completely new in the strategy game. It will probably be the most important decision after Friday, how to deal with the tires in the race.

"It will change from race to race, depending on tire characteristics and the way the tire suits the track, and the weather conditions. There are a lot of things to take into account, and it will be very interesting to watch how the teams deal with it."

Theissen admits that BMW has done a better job than some other Michelin runners of adapting to Bridgestone.

"Maybe it helped that Sauber only switched to Michelin two years ago, so there was a basic understanding of in what way the Bridgestone tire would be different. There was no surprise, so they pretty well hit the characteristics of the tire."