BMW Sauber F1.09 Unveiled

BMW-Sauber kicked off its 2009 campaign on Tuesday by revealing its new car, the F1.09.

While rain lashed the teams testing in Portugal, the morning weather at Valencia in Spain was fine for the presentation and debut lap in the hands of Robert Kubica.Unlike in 2008, BMW’s new car does not feature the sponsor decals of Credit Suisse and Dell, and Intel’s presence has moved from the now blank engine cover to the smaller rear-wing endplates.

“Since 2005 we gained the most (sponsor) contracts,” team boss Mario Theissen told the news agency SID, “so it is no surprise that some are not with us now.”The budget for 2009 is secure and we are already planning for 2010,” he said at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.Under the bodywork lies a KERS system, but – despite BMW’s excitement at the deployment of the energy re-use technology this year – Theissen said he is not sure the unit will be ready for Melbourne.”I am sure we will be ready at some point; I don’t know if we will be ready for Melbourne,” the German confirmed.Christian Klien remains third driver, and the team said the target of fighting for the title in 2009 is still on track.”So far we have always met our targets, so there is no reason why we should abandon the final and most difficult one,” Theissen insisted.