It's no great surprise that Robert Kubica has figured highly in all the end of year driver polls. He even earned top spot in Autosport's all-inclusive list of the top 50 of 2008 from any series, beating Lewis Hamilton in the process.
The fact that he did so despite having a few disappointing races in the last half of the season says a lot about the impact he made in the first part, when for a while he seemed to be a genuine world championship contender. Beating McLaren and Ferrari outright always going to be a stretch, but at least he was close enough to keep the pressure on both.
The most impressive aspect of BMW's 2008 season was the way things turned around following the initial tests of the F1.08. On its first outings the message seemed clear - heading into this new era of a standard ECU and no electronic aids, the team had somehow lost the plot. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to cross BMW off the list of those most likely to challenge Ferrari and McLaren as best of the rest. And yet by Australia, the team was a force to be reckoned with.