Theissen says top ten shows progress

Kubica and team-mate Nick Heidfeld both qualified in the top 11 in Turkey, just two weeks after both failed to make it out of Q1 in Monaco.

"When all the drivers were running in the same conditions, the gap to the front-runners was just 0.4 seconds," said Theissen. "That proves the new aero package has had a positive effect.

"We produced a solid performance. Obviously, our goal was, to get both cars into Q3, which didn't quite work out.

"The whole field was very close. Nick missed Q3 by just five hundreds of a second, and Robert was finally tenth. What this means in terms of the race we will only see once we know the competitors' strategy."

Despite the progress, Kubica warned that BMW Sauber still has a long way to go before it can get amongst the front-runners.

"Starting from P10 is definitely better than starting from P18 the way I did in Monaco," said Kubica. However, we still lack a bit of pace compared to the top cars.

"The track clearly suits our car better than the Monaco track did. We really have to fight tomorrow. Although the gap to the lead cars is quite close, there are a lot of cars between us and the front row. It will be difficult."