Rampf confident F1.08 is strong enough

BMW finished in second place in last year's standings follow the disqualification of McLaren from the constructors' championship, but the German team were third strongest during the season.

"I think with the F1.08 from what we see from simulation and wind tunnel we are quite confident and looking forward to seeing the positive results," said Rampf during the launch of the car in Munich.

"We are confident, but it all depends on the competition and we will see in Melbourne how strong the competition is. With the product we see here we are confident."

Rampf said the team have worked hard in order to have a stable car that will handle well under the new regulations for 2008.

"To achieve the target of having a more stable and forgiving car, one is aero to be very stable and not losing downforce during cornering, and in mechanical side to have good feedback and improve grip levels," added Rampf.

"The most obvious part that is different is the front wing, it is quite a massive front wing, but with this we achieve that it is less sensitive in cornering to side winds. The turning vanes optimized to have higher downforce levels, so aero efficiency is one of the main issues.

"Then the sidepod area and engine cover is even lower than last year's car, it means we try to reduce the volume of engine cover. We also have new elements on head wing to create more downforce.

"New front axle to improve the feedback for the driver, because they will have to correct more times, and also the rear suspension is a complete new development and here we try to maximize the grip and potential of the tyres and to take away the peakiness of the handling, so if the car is unstable it is easier to bring it back on track."

He added: "The biggest changes are on the electronic side, the ban of TC and engine braking, so overall we expect the cars will be more nervous and drivers easier to make mistakes and one of the keys was to make a car more stable and more forgiving and one that gives good feedback to the driver.

"With the standard ECU, traction control is banned and also engine braking control, last year's electronic was able to run perfectly on the limit of the tyres, now we had to develop a car that was easier to drive, and a rear suspension that improves traction."