BMW set sights on first win in 2008

The Hinwil-based squad were one of the surprises of the 2007 season, becoming the third strongest team ahead of world champions Renault.

BMW went on to finish in second place in the constructors' championship following the disqualification of McLaren from the standings.

Their results in 2007 have led to increased expectations for next year, when Theissen admits the team will be looking to win their first race.

"It is natural that expectations increase the more successful you become," said Theissen. "That brings pressure from the outside, of course, but also raises the standards we set ourselves.

"The end of this season has seen us wrapping up the development phase of the BMW Sauber F1 team.

"This phase has run according to plan and has seen us make it into the top three in a short space of time. Next year we will be looking to record our first win.

"We know that this will not happen automatically. The great progress we have made this year, in particular, has shown that we have got the direction of our development work and our working processes spot on. Motivation within the team is extremely high as a result."

Theissen also admits he was surprised his team were the third best right from the start of the season.

"We set ourselves the goal of fourth place and a much bigger points total this year, so third was a great bonus," he added. "The powers that be then promoted us even further, but it is a pretty empty second place in our eyes.

"After all, we're well aware that four cars have been faster than us, and we want to beat them on the track, not in the corridors of power. It was surprising that we were the third-best team from the outset and were able to reinforce this position in practically every race.

"On occasions we were even able to break into the territory of the two leading teams, meaning that we recorded the podium positions we were aiming for on merit. To sum up, we can be proud of what we have achieved, both as far as our development work over the winter is concerned and in terms of our pace of development during the course of the season.

"We have managed to meet our targets in both of our development years so far, so the engineers can see that our ideas are working. That breeds confidence in our strategy, and as a result they can see that we are heading in the right direction."