BMW proud of 2007 achievements

The German squad began the year hoping to consolidate as fourth strongest outfit, but soon became the third fastest team as world champions Renault were unable to match their pace.

BMW will finish the season in second place thanks to the exclusion of McLaren from he constructors' championship, and although Theissen admits the runner-up spot is not real, he reckons his team can still be very pleased with what they have achieved this year.

"For the team this has been a successful season," said Theissen. "We can be proud of what we have achieved, both in terms of our development work over the winter and the pace of development during the season. In our two start-up years we have reached our target each time.

"In 2007 we started out from fifth place in the world championship - with 36 championship points earned in our debut season. Fourth place with a clear points increase was a firm commitment, third place an option.

"It was very gratifying to be able to see ourselves as the third-strongest team right from the start and to shore up that position in virtually every race.

"An administrative decision even handed us second place on a plate, but that really doesn't mean anything to us as we know there are still four cars that are faster than ours. Our aim is to beat them out on the race track."

BMW have scored a total of 94 points this year, including two podium finishes.