Kubica expects BMW back on 'normal' pace

The Pole and teammate Nick Heidfeld had a troubled time in France two weeks ago as they put in their most unconvincing race performance of the year so far.

And although improvements to their F1.08 tried out at the Silverstone test last week should help lift them back to their form from earlier this year, Kubica is mindful of where his team stand in the development battle with their title rivals.

"I think, I hope, we will be back to the normal pace," said Kubica. "So I am expecting not to fall down behind the Toyotas. But still I think the gap to Ferrari and McLaren will be pretty big so it will be very difficult to compete against them.

"But everything can change and the weather can have a big influence. We will be back to the normal pace, the normal standard, but it means that the gap to the fastest car will be quite big."

Kubica believes that BMW Sauber's form in France looked worse than it really was only because Jarno Trulli had a great weekend to secure Toyota's first podium since 2005.

"They (Toyota) improved and maybe we chose some wrong ways to go and that's why it happened. But the only difference was that one car was there, the Toyota of Trulli, otherwise everything would be very much similar to in the previous three races.

"It was just that the car felt less quick because of some changes and we lost maybe a couple of tenths. Otherwise the situation at the racetrack would have looked the same as before."

When asked if he felt BMW Sauber could close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren, Kubica said: "Looking at what happened recently, the gap has increased. In F1 everything can change quickly. If the gap keeps increasing for the next two or three races then it will be very difficult to catch Ferrari and McLaren.

"It's true also that at the beginning of the season it was much easier to fight them. In Australia we were ahead of Ferrari. In Malaysia and Bahrain we were in front of McLaren. But the last three or four races we are not.

"The gap is much bigger, so even if you set up the car perfectly and do a perfect qualifying, the gap is big enough that it's impossible to be in front of them or close to them."