Rage against the machine

The star of the show, or the enemy within? Whichever way you look at it, 2008 was a pretty remarkable season for Robert Kubica.

The Pole enjoyed the best of times to get his career firmly back on track after a difficult 2007 campaign. But he endured untold behind-the-scenes frustration that he was unable to achieve goals he thought could be attained by his BMW Sauber team.

And it was ironic that the turning point of his season, the very moment when he and his bosses achieved their season ambition of winning a race in Canada, was also when the joy turned to frustration. For while many within the camp were celebrating that crazy afternoon in Montreal, satisfied with a job well done, Kubica was getting more and more aggravated by what he saw.

Until then, things had been progressing fairly well.

Despite a far-from-ideal build-up to the season, with the new F1.08 proving a handful to get balanced in the first stages of testing, by the time the Formula One fraternity rolled into Melbourne the team was pretty much on top of its issues.

And Kubica duly got down to business, just missing out on what would have been a totally unexpected pole position before seeing his race hopes evaporate when he was hit from behind by Kazuki Nakajima. He would later confess it was the most disappointing race of the year.

Nevertheless, team-mate Nick Heidfeld grabbed second in Australia behind Lewis Hamilton, before Kubica added his own runner-up spot in Malaysia. He then followed that up with a maiden pole position in Bahrain, before seeing his hopes of victory dashed when he lost time on oil on the first lap and got stuck behind Kimi Raikkonen.

Robert Kubica, Nick Heidfeld, and Dr Mario Theissen celebrate their 1-2 finish in the Canadian Grand Prix © LAT

But it all looked so great. The F1.08 was delivering consistency unmatched by even Ferrari or McLaren. And, with BMW Sauber topping the constructors' championship standings, there was already talk that the 'big two' teams in F1 had become the 'big three'.

Through the following races the team kept up its pace - often second best to either McLaren or Ferrari, but managing to pose enough of a challenge to remain in touch for the championship. And when Kubica won in Canada, helped in part by Lewis Hamilton colliding with Kimi Raikkonen in the pitlane, the Pole moved himself to the top of the points standings.

And yet while the team celebrated, there were already forces at play that he was not so happy with. Kubica is a driven man, demanding as much perfection from himself as he does from those who work around him. So whenever there is a screw-up, be it by himself or by the team, then his frustrations get vented.

Just as he demanded 100 per cent from himself (remember all that weight he lost at the start of the season, when the engineers talked about the need to lose several kilos from the car?), so too he got angry about what he viewed as a lack of commitment from those around him to what he felt was a genuine championship challenge.

He wanted the team to push all it could to keep ramping up improvements on the F1.08 to continue to match McLaren and Ferrari - but even in Canada it had already fallen away from the silver and red cars.

And more maddening still for Kubica was the fact that the team was devoting engineering effort and testing time to resolve the qualifying issues that had hurt Heidfeld up until that point of the season.

Kubica's thinking was why, when he was heading the championship with a car perfectly suited to his style, was the team about to throw resources away from making him ever quicker? Or change the car in a way that would perhaps not suit him?

These frustrations came at a time when BMW Sauber was trying to tie him down to a new extended contract. The only issue was whether Kubica wanted to extend it further.

With his stock in the paddock flying high, and doubts about whether BMW Sauber could be the team to take him to the world title, it was no surprise to find that Kubica did not want to commit any longer than he was forced to.

It turned into a battle of wills: would BMW Sauber accept Kubica's one-year only demand, or would it release him to chase other options, especially with Fernando Alonso on the market? In the end, the team relented and accepted the pressure that comes with needing to prove it is competitive enough to keep him further down the line.

Kubica's fears about the development path of the team proved well-founded, as (perhaps coincidentally) modifications made to the car for Magny-Cours did not work, and from that point on the season went downhill. While McLaren improved, BMW Sauber had nothing in response.

Robert Kubica at speed at Spa-Francorchamps in the BMW Sauber F1.08 © LAT

It was not due to a lack of effort.

BMW Sauber invested heavily in CFD, helped by supercomputer Albert II, but for some reason improvements found on a computer screen - and verified in a wind-tunnel - never delivered the expected step forward in performance when used on the racetrack.

Despite falling away on pace, Kubica's consistent, error-free performances kept him in the title hunt against Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa, who kept hitting trouble. When points or podiums were there to be taken, as in Valencia and Fuji, Kubica made sure he secured them.

It was enough to keep him in the title hunt until the penultimate round at Shanghai where, bizarrely, he began a run of two totally disastrous weekends during which he could not get the car to his liking.

He failed to make it through to Q3 at either of the last two rounds, and was left as a bit-part player at the end of the season, frustratingly losing third place in the championship to the less-than-stellar Kimi Raikkonen.

Speaking to Kubica in the latter stages of the year, you could sense the frustration bubbling away beneath the surface, but you also fully understand that if BMW Sauber comes up with machinery capable of winning races from the off in 2009 then he will be totally committed to the cause.

"Well of course the overall picture is good, but as always you can do better," he said in Brazil when asked to give his verdict on the season. "In the last two races the picture got worse a bit. This is showing that you have to work really hard.

"To struggle to get through Q2 in China, by two or three tenths, when at the beginning of the year we were able to easily do one it with just lap on hard tyres, was not the best finish to the season. But overall I figure we had quite a good year."

Of course, Kubica is well aware that the development push will be key to moving on from 2008. He hopes Mario Theissen and his crew come to understand just what went wrong this year, to ensure there is no repeat.

"To stay good all season you need a consistent level of improvement - you can see we are a good example. You can start well and you can end up not so good."

It is something that Kubica will want to see addressed. If not, BMW's star will not only be an enemy within - he'll be off elsewhere. Sources suggest McLaren has already sounded his management out to see if he is available for a deal from 2010, and the Ross Brawn-led Honda team is looking at its long-term options.

The future is bright for Kubica. It's now up to BMW to make sure it's with them.