Kubica plays down championship title talk

The Pole took his maiden pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday and, on the back of two second places for his German car manufacturer team so far this season, rivals McLaren and Ferrari think they are now a major threat.

But Kubica insists that his team's focus is not on a title challenge but on simply making their car even stronger over the rest of the season.

"We are quite consistent, but I think here we are not the fastest because (Felipe) Massa has shown all weekend some very good pace," he said. "But with consistency you might reach some good results, so I hope we can keep this level for the rest of the season or maybe even improve.

"But our target is not to fight for the championship. It is to develop, work as hard as possible and score as many points as possible."

Much has been made in Bahrain of the weight that Kubica lost prior to the start of the season in a bid to improve his form.

But although the seven kilogrammes Kubica shed have clearly helped, the Pole thinks it has not been the key factor in his strong start to the year.

"I think it was not crucial, and I think it is a bit too much pumped up by the media. I lost a bit of weight, which helps my driving and the lap times, but I don't think that is why I am performing much better than last year.

"Over the winter, I put last year away completely from my mind. It was a disappointing year, and I was trying to prepare as much as possible, as best as possible, for this season.

"Finally also the team gave me what I wanted, and I started working with 100 percent motivation to prepare as well as possible for this year. I think the whole preparation from the winter with my new engineer has paid off, with a good performance in qualifying here and a good race pace in Malaysia."

And although delighted by his and the team's first pole position, Kubica says he will only be happy with the Bahrain weekend if he goes away with a good result from the race.

"I don't think it is a really special moment," he said of his pole position. "Qualifying is quite important in F1, but the race is the final result. So I would like to keep a low profile and wait until after the race."