By BMWF1Talk & Jaime M.
January 16 2008

After the magnificent presentation of the F1.08 at Munich, it was time to test the real ability of the car. And where better to test it than the twisty circuit of Ricardo Tormo, Valencia? At 12am the car made its debut, with a close look from a group of photographers, and it did its first proper laps (running inside the BMW Welt at slow speed isn’t a big challenge!).

The installation laps went without any big issues, and they mainly involved checking control systems, and it gave the driver’s an opportunity to sense the feeling of the new car.
After that the drivers could concentrate on basic set-up, aerodynamics and the new Standard ECU, mandatory from 2008.

At the wheel of the new F1.08 was Robert Kubica, the young Pole, while Nick Heidfeld had to drive the F1.07, with some parts of the 2008 car, especially the new Seamless Shift Gearbox, which has to last 4 Grand Prix.

At first glance, the main changes on the F1.08 were a totally new front nosecone, lower than before, and a new front wing, with three elements, the lower of them having its central part parallel to the track. The new front wing, as Willy Rampf described it, is massive and is a development of a similar wing debuted at the Spanish GP in 2007. However now the front wing pillars are placed in the middle flap, contrary to the conventional configuration.

The front suspension lay out has remained similar, with slight changes to adapt to the new weight distribution and the ban of Traction Control, the most important the new suspension arm attachements to the bodywork, placed with a different angle and structure. The barge boards and tuning vanes haven’t changed much too, but have been rounded in their main profile, and sport saw cuts in their base.

The wheels had new rim covers, like the ones used by Ferrari and other teams, but with a different shape. However the purpose is the same: better management of the airflow around the wheels and more efficient brake cooling.

In the middle section of the car, sidepods have been revised, to optimise cooling, reduce drag and direct the airflow to the diffuser and the rear wing.
New “Boomerang” wings have been implemented with a bit more of an aggressive front shape. And added to the piece used in the Munich presentation, an extension of these “boomerang” winglets reaches vertically to the barge boards. This is another interesting innovation by BMW Sauber that will pay off in the track, and it is intended to control the turbulences in that area, “straightening” the flow.

The engine covered suffered modifications aimed to make the engine packaging even slimmer. Spectacular is the undercut done in the end of it.

But probably the most noticeable innovation of this car is the new X-wing, which connects the winglets just behind the chimneys (usually called T-Wings) with the engine cover. Other teams have had a similar wing, but they placed it further back, almost under the rear wing.

The top “Viking” horns have suffered only a bit of re-shaping.

The placing of the exhausts has also changed – they are now more protected by the bodywork. Other elements like rear wing and venting grills have remained similar to last year’s car, but they are expected to be improved before the Australian GP, as Willy Rampf, BMW Sauber Technical director promised a deeply upgraded aerodynamic package.

And this is the general basis of the external changes done in the car. But many other changes have been done, such as the softened rear suspension, to improve traction.

As Willy Rampf explained: “we have designed a new front axle and front axle kinematics to improve feedback for driver" and at the rear "a completely new development to maximise the grip potential of the tyres and to take away the peakiness of the handling."

After the car’s first laps it was time for interviews. A full transcript of the interviews will be available soon. So far we can offer you a summary, and the audio clips.

First was Robert Kubica, who kindly attended our questions. Although these questions weren’t too specific or in-depth, there was not much more we could ask, as already many key aspects of the new car and the season expectations had been explained at Munich, and there hadn’t been enough testing kilometres to really evaluate the car’s performance. In fact he warned us that it was quite early to know the real potential of the new car.
After that Willy Rampf talked with us about the technical aspects of the new design philosophy.

Last was Nick Heidfeld, who also explained his feelings about the season, and calmed concerns of gearbox’ reliability.
Unfortunately we couldn’t interview Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director, and Peter Sauber, who now works as the team’s advisor. We would have liked to ask them about the status of Javier Villa and Marko Asmer, the most likely test and reserve drivers, the new buildings in Hinwil and CFD’s Supercomputer Albert2.

After the interviews and other extra laps, the team concentrated on filming for marketing and commercials.

* We will update this article, as well as posting and linking the most useful photos, and the audio files of the interviews as soon as possible.  So far you can see some photos and commets at http://www.f1network.net/boards/read/s491.htm?936,8796851