We’ve speculated a little over the last few weeks about some of the comments made by Robert Kubica regarding his team.BMW team boss Dr. Mario Theissen has told Autosport that the rumors of all-out infighting have been greatly over exaggerated by the press and that things are just fine between Kubica and BMW.
Robert has been critical as of late due to what he suspects is a lack of dedication by BMW to win the drivers title this year. While I have attributed BMW’s rise in F1 to a methodical plan that has been followed perfectly, Robert feels BMW is capable of more and seems miffed why he is not getting more from the team/car. BMW’s goal was to win a race this year and they have achieved that. It was never their goal to win the title but Robert feels that short-changes their potential and leaves him as, seemingly, the only person at BMW who feels they can win. You can imagine this has caused some consternation but Dr. Mario says things are all fine:
“We sat down twice over the Monza weekend and spent quite some time together,” Theissen told autosport.com about the team’s relationship with Kubica. “They (the reports of a rift) have been totally exaggerated.
“Robert was disappointed after the Spa race and he made some comments which were then turned into much harsher press statements. Then, after that, I was asked about the situation in Monza, and my comments were turned into harsh statements as well.
“I was asked in a Friday (press) briefing if the driver could be given a penalty for comments like this, and my answer was: ‘I don’t talk about contractual content’. The journalist then wrote that Theissen does not rule out a penalty!
“It just tells you that this is made out of almost nothing. There is certainly an issue we have to discuss, and it is about performance of the car. We have not developed as strongly as we expected. We have discussed this several times and I am sure we will keep up the discussions with Robert.”
When asked if he felt the fact Kubica was so hard on the team was simply the result of his characteristic of being so tough on himself, Theissen said: “He has a competitive desire, but we have as well.”
In my opinion BMW has a chance of winning the title if Lewis and or Felipe put a foot wrong or manage to crumble under the pressure. In short, attrition will be BMW’s chance. I also think Dr. Mario has gotten to where he is by following his plan methodically and to be honest, Robert is an employee who needs to share the vision of that plan instead of being vocal about how BMW’s plan is not giving him a chance to be the champion. You knew what you signed up for, Robert, now get on with the program. Nick isn’ saying these kinds of things and I am not sure you should be either. BMW was there before you and Dr. Mario’s plan is evidently working so unless that track record changes, why throw Theissen’s plan out the window for your title hopes? Just saying…
