Heidfeld pessimistic on BMW's chances

"Unfortunately I don't think so," said the German at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, where the team's Polish test driver Robert Kubica set the quickest time in a first practice session shunned by most top drivers on Friday.

"Looking at the first session of course we looked very quick," Heidfeld told reporters. "But obviously we were missing most of the other teams and, as in the past, the third car has a lot of tyres and a good engine. I think the second session was more realistic."

Kubica was 10th in that, with Heidfeld 14th and Canada's former world champion Jacques Villeneuve a distant 25th after completing only a few laps.

"I don't think we will be in the top four teams," said Heidfeld. The German, who raced for BMW's former partners Williams last year, said there was nothing either very good or very bad about his car.

He added that he did not care particularly whether they proved more or less competitive than Williams.

"I really don't know," said Heidfeld. "I know a lot of people will be interested to see but to be honest it doesn't bother me a lot.

"I don't really care. We have to concentrate on ourselves, it is our first year and we want to be successful in the future. I will try to beat them as much as anybody else."

Sunday's race will be the first for BMW as team owners after they bought Swiss-based Sauber last year.