Heidfeld hopes to fight for title in '09

The German driver is yet to win a race, but his team have fought near the top most of the season and are aiming to match the pace of rivals Ferrari and McLaren in 2009.

Heidfeld is hopeful that BMW can make the next step, but he is aware that the radical new rules to be introduced next season are making it hard to predict what will happen.

"That is what I hope but it is impossible to know right now," said Heidfeld at Fuji on Thursday when asked if he was aiming to fight for the title in 2009. "I think BMW is one of the only teams who have fulfilled the targets we set ourselves a couple of years ago.

"The only bigger question mark for me is the big regulations changes. If the regulation changes were similar then I would be pretty sure that we could do the next step and hopefully fight for the championship and so with the new regulations I can only hope, but it is much more of an unknown thing for each team.

"It might be that you are a bit more lucky or unlucky, it's impossible to know."

Heidfeld's future at the team was in doubt for some time as he struggled for qualifying pace in the first part of the season, and with Fernando Alonso being linked with the seat.

But the German said he was also confident that he would get a new contract.

"I was not 100 percent sure about what would happen next season but I was still pretty confident," he said. "But as I said at the time when I had problems it does not pay out to think about that too much, it pays more to focus on the driving - which is what I did.

"And I think it did pay out because my performance has become better and better. If you look at the last couple of qualifyings, it has been good at least, the race performances have been good so I think I did the right thing."