BMW unaffected by rear wing rules change
BMW-Sauber have rubbished claims that they are one of the teams that stand to lose the most by the recent change in rear wing regulations, after revealing that they have not had to modify their cars at all to fall in line with the new clarification over flexi-wings
The FIA issued an edict last week demanding that teams fit a slot-gap separator to their rear wings from this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix, to ensure that no outfits were benefiting from possible flexi-wings.
The suggestion was that Ferrari and BMW-Sauber were the two teams that were benefiting the most from this area of exploitation, even though there was no suggestion that they were operating outside of the regulations.
But speaking to autosport.com on Thursday, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen has said that the rule change does not affect his team at all because they were already running with the slot-gap separators.
"It is not a change in the rules, it is just a clarification and because it is not a change in the rules it doesn't affect us," said Theissen. "What is requested now has always been with our car, so there has been no change at all.
"We had those slot gap separators already so we should be fine."
Theissen is upbeat about the current form of his team, and believes that judging by their recent showings they can set their sights on a top five finish in the constructors' championship this year.
"Silverstone showed that we are moving towards the right direction," said the German, referring to the strong qualifying pace and double-points finish in the British Grand Prix.
"The car is apparently particularly strong on fast tracks because it is efficient and that should give us some confidence for the coming races now - like here, Indy, Magny-Cours, Hockenheim and Monza. All these tracks should suit our car and, what makes me confident is that we have increased development speed quite a lot.
"We have our own test team who are out every other week like the big teams, and a twin shift on the wind-tunnel. I see budget wise already that they are pushing a lot of parts and pieces through the wind tunnel now.
"So there will be developments through the season and certainly the primary target is to secure P5, which is a big step from eighth position last year. Then we have to be ready when some teams ahead of us decide to make mistakes."
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