BMW to continue with development push

The Hinwil-based team endured a disastrous time in the Hungarian Grand Prix, struggling with a lack of pace that has left the outfit baffled by what happened.

And although their pretty secure third spot in the constructors' championship could tempt them to abandon development work on this year's car and instead shift efforts onto their 2009 machine, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen insists they will keep focused on this year.

Speaking to autosport.com about the plans for the rest of the season, Theissen said: "The first push will be to understand the problems we have suffered from here. And the outcome of this will depend on what we will do in the coming weeks.

"We will certainly carry on with the developments for this year's car we have in the pipeline, there is no doubt about that, but first we have to understand what happened here in Hungary.

"After such a performance and gaining one point, I cannot really claim to challenge the other teams."

Theissen said he was surprised by what happened in the race, where Kubica slipped back from a strong fourth on the grid to barely challenge for points.

"What happened now was totally unexpected, we haven't seen it before," he said. "We were just slow. Really slow. Sometimes in phases of the race Robert was the slowest car on the track, so it was like we weren't there."

Initial data analysis at the track showed that there was nothing broken on the car, with both drivers complaining about a lack of rear end stability.

"It must be about the tyres," added Theissen. "It was both drivers, for the entire duration of the race, on both tyre compounds."