BMW sure of stronger 2009 challenge

The German squad started the year very strongly, fighting closely behind Ferrari and McLaren and scoring their first win at the Canadian Grand Prix.

However, in the second half of the season BMW Sauber seemed unable to match the development rate of their rivals and ended the season well off the pace of the leading duo.

But Theissen is optimistic that those problems will not be repeated in 2009, when the team are aiming to fight for the title.

"I think we can be confident," Theissen told autosport.com. "The team is established now, reliability shows that we have a strong basis, the development work on the aero package as well as on KERS is on schedule, so I think we should be strong next year."

He added: "We definitely had the stronger results in the first part of the season, and this is something we need to look into. I am sure we will be able to analyse it and to get over it.

"The problems that Nick (Heidfeld) had during the season are fixed more or less, and now we have to look into Robert (Kubica)'s qualifying situation - especially in the last two races. I am sure we will find the reasons."

Despite being unable to match the pace of the two leading teams late in the year, Theissen takes encouragement from BMW Sauber's reliability record this year.

He reckons that's what allowed them to stay in the championship fight for so long, before Ferrari and McLaren solved their problems.

"We had a very strong start. We had very, very good reliability throughout the year - and the other two teams had some failures, especially in the early stages of the season. So that helped us lead the championship at an early point," he added.

"In fact I have to say that the true speed of the car has not changed very much in comparison to the other teams, so as they got their act together with reliability, they were able to pull away.

"But the season has been a big step forward again, it is the third time in a row now.

"We have got our first double victory (a 1-2 finish), we have been on the podium 11 times, we had good race strategy, good pit work, no technical problems throughout the season in the race and we are the only team to say it.

"It has been very successful, although unfortunately the final race was disappointing."