BMW hopes 'major' upgrade will pay off

The German squad started the season strongly in Australia but has drifted away from the top as the races have gone on.

In Bahrain, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld had a disastrous race and finished at the bottom of the results table.

Theissen says the team's lack of form has been mainly down to the lack of development and the failure to get the best out of the car in qualifying.

But the BMW boss is hopeful once the upgrade package is introduced in Spain, the team will take a significant stop forward.

"Partly due to not exploiting the potential of the car in qualifying and partly due to development steps of the other teams," Theissen said of the reason for the team's struggles.

"We decided before the start of the season to combine a bigger development package for Barcelona and I can only hope that this will pay off.

"Today, it looks like we are behind but if the package is good the picture can change within two weeks.

"What we have seen now is quite surprising, with new regulations it's a close field. In the fourth race, we have seen the third team which has completely dominated qualifying which is unusual.

"That shows, together with small gaps, that it can change again within a few races."

He added: "The car was very good in Melbourne. Robert could have won that race, although we were not the quickest, but was still quite competitive.

"Apparently other teams made an improvement on a race-by-race basis whereas we are preparing a comprehensive package for Barcelona and I can only hope that we will make a step forward there.

"We will have a sequence of improvements throughout the season but this is the first major one so I have some hopes about it."

Theissen said his team has not had any issues with car development, and again denied the Hinwil-based squad had not pushed enough to develop its car last year.

"That's not true. I've always said it was not true - we pushed last year to get results and I have explained it before. We had at least as many developments as the year before, they were just not as successful," he said.

"We did not give up on development early last year. It is disappointing that this year's package is not up to the top standard, but that's how it is.

"We have had three years of continuous improvement and now it's a setback. The team has to show and will show how competitive we are. Everyone has to deal with this from time to time and I'm confident that we will bounce back."