Time Out KL catches up with BMW-Sauber’s Robert Kubica and queries him about night racing, strategies and how the grid will cope without Traction Control…

Three races in, what’s the difference in races without Traction Control?
I think it will be pretty important to keep the tyres and not to overheat the rear tyres, and especially in the hot races. For sure it will be a bit different to drive 300 kilometres maximum speed without TC as it was 2007 with TC. But I think everybody will get used to it sooner or later and in the end I think generally F1 will not change a lot. It is also true that we will probably have a few more small mistakes which will be easier to see them from the outside.

How much are you looking forward to street races in Valencia and Singapore?
I am really looking forward to them because I am a big fan of street circuits. I am looking forward to Singapore and Valencia as well as for Monaco, so let’s hope these three races will be good ones.

BMW Sauber is currently the third best team, will that change?

One thing we knew from the wind tunnel and the information from the engineers the new car has made quite big progress performance wise. We have some small answers how big the potential of the new car will be, but as I say everybody will work for maximum revs and maximum speed to develop the car and extract the maximum potential in the coming races.

Mario said team’s target was to win a race this year, so what is your own personal target?
Always starting the year I would like to have a consistent, strong season. Everything will depend on how strong the car is, but I will try my best to get the best result possible for the team and myself.

What do you think of the new car?
It is quite a big step looking from outside. The new car looks really nice. I especially like the front wing. It looks much slimmer but the aspect from the outside is nothing compared to how quick we will be.

You say you are confident about liking Singapore race, but why don’t the drivers ask to have a practice before in the lighting conditions?
First of all we have still not seen how the lighting will be and what the conditions will be. Not a lot of people know how it will be exactly but I am not worried as I am sure FIA will do everything to have good visibility otherwise it would be too dangerous for everybody, the drivers, the spectators, everybody. The FIA is doing a great job for the safety issues so I am sure in this issue they will do the same.

David Coulthard says the biggest difference he sees with the ECU will be the engine braking. There will be more mistakes on the entry to corners and that is where the change will come rather than with TC. Do you agree?
I think that was the point where I was struggling a lot last year due to rear locking and some down shifting problems, but apparently the team has done a very good job and I was expecting without engine brake to have much more problems and I was really surprised when I discovered that finally after ten months of working from the last race to the first test in winter testing we improve significantly the situation and I do not have any more rear locking problems. We are going in the right direction, but for sure without engine brake one thin is TC, but without engine brakes was helping a lot the drivers and now it will be harder.

Will we see much more shuffling around at starts?
Yes. Now the starts will be – I would not say lottery – but the difference will be much bigger and it will also be down to the driver not to react too much on the throttle and not to be so aggressive as once you create wheel spin you do not stop them and you lose a lot of acceleration.

Are you afraid of Renault catching up or are you worried about McLaren and Ferrari?
I am not afraid I am just looking forward to seeing who will be strong and where we will be. In Formula 1 I think there are five or six teams who are working a hundred per cent to improve and catch the front runners and every single year, every single season there is some surprise – like I think nobody was expecting to see BMW Sauber be so strong in 2007. We can have some surprises in 2008. Let’s hope that we will be stronger. I am sure we will be stronger but let’s hope our step forward will be bigger than the competition.

Strategy changes during the season. Who does it?
We split the strategy sometimes because due to regulations like you cannot refuel under the safety car rule and this most of the time was the team decision. In some occasions maybe it worked out in some others less. Everything is done to make it better for the team, to make profits for the team and, as I said, there were races like Monaco last year that did not work out and maybe we lost even a podium. All in all the team is deciding and I am pretty confident this year we will not make the same mistakes.

Do you expect strategy to change now with the new format of Q3?
Maybe. For sure now it is a bit different, but most of the cars that are racing for top five positions will be in top ten. Maybe some cars out of top ten, like position 11, may get quite bigger profit than car in position eight or nine, but this is the regulation and we have to live with it. I just hope we will look for our openings in the top five rather than out of the top ten.

Picture Credit: BMW - Motorsports