Originally posted by whatto999
It's a shame really.
However i expected them as serious WCC/WDC contenders next year.
Sorry, but I don't see indications it is possible.
For 3(!) years in a row BMW car's performance fades in last few races. I'm probably one of not many out there but I claim F1.08 isn't relatively faster car than F1.07 (apart from first 3 races). It's just front runners made much more mistakes than in 2007 and that's why we managed so many podiums this year, otherwise we would gather almost identical amount of points like in 2007.
Look at Nick's number of points and compare it to 2007. Now assuming Nick didn't have qualy problems it doesn't change much because he was many times saved by SC and got big points and probably he wouldn't get more if he started in top10.
The only step they made is massively improved reliability, the car's performance stayed more or less the same as in 2007 while other teams caught up.
I'm also worried that there were several races when both cars were completely nowhere. It didn't happen a single time in case of McLaren or Ferrari in last two years (maybe once with Alonso in 2007).
The drivers were up there but not the team and not the car.
I really hope I'll realize I'm wrong in 2009!