BMW Motorsport
Question: Christian, it’s a little over a week away from the launch of BMW Sauber’s ‘09 racer. Is there anything you can say about the new car?
Christian Klien: I can certainly assure you that the 2009 car will be in blue, white and red livery. Furthermore, it will have a front and a rear wing, supported by four wheels, each of which will hold one black tyre (laughs). As you will understand, it is way too early to judge how competitive we will be, but my feeling tells me, that we have a very solid basis for 2009. Obviously, the biggest change will be driving on slick tyres. At Barcelona you gain about two seconds a lap over the grooves. However, you lose about two seconds from the new aerodynamics. As always, winter testing in Spain was pretty cold, so any judgment would be premature.
Question: You, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld have already had a thorough taste of KERS, and a lot of other drivers have ‘consulted’ you about the effect of this new technology. How does it feel and have you noticed any downsides?
Christian Klien:Honestly, we have still got a long way to go, but we are on track. One of the changes is that I have an extra boost button on the steering wheel now, but with all those buttons it does not really make much of a difference. I can boost the engine power by 60 kilowatts for a little over six seconds from the cockpit. You must press the boost button as early into the corner as possible to have an advantage on the straight. I feel that you will probably have to start the procedure when you are, for example, in third gear in the middle of the corner. That is when those 60 kilowatts come in immediately, so it does require a little extra attention from the driver. And KERS certainly harms your weight distribution. You have less weight to play with, so set-up work becomes a little trickier.
Question: Let’s have a look at the new front wing. You called it ugly, while your team colleague Nick Heidfeld predicted a lot of accidents because you can hardly see it from the cockpit. With those downsides, what are the design’s upsides?
Christian Klien: Let me get one thing straight first. Although it was widely spread in the media, I never called our car ‘ugly’. I was sitting down with some international journalists in Barcelona at the first test and was asked about the new look of F1. I didn’t beat around the bush and said: ‘It is not the nicest car I have ever seen’. Somebody translated this into freestyle German and made a massive headline out of it. And soon everyone started copying from one another. It’s funny how you can make headlines with something you never said. To answer the question, it looks like the new aero regulations will bring more overtaking. We have noticed that you can follow a car more closely. This is mainly down to the larger front wing we have now which brings a lot of stability to the front axle. In addition to that, the smaller rear wing should significantly reduce the dirty air when you follow another car. One of the downsides, however, is the start of the race. With these massive shovels on the noses, we may well see a few clipped front wings in the first corners.
