BMW Motorsport director Mario Theissen has warned that the BMW Sauber F1 team will come under pressure from bosses in Munich if results do not improve.
The Hinwil-based squad has endured a difficult start to the season with wildly fluctuating form, culminating in an ignominious Bahrain weekend when Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld finished dead last.
While the squad were expected to be one of the dark horses for success this season, they have struggled with an unreliable KERS system and a car which has proved difficult to set up at some circuits. Theissen said that although the sport was good value for the German marque, results have to come.
“Formula One (for BMW) is valuable,” Theissen is quoted as saying by RTL.
“Before the season the project was evaluated again in detail and the financial situation was part of the analysis, but in the long-term we also need success,” he said.
The German marque are thought to be in reasonable health as far as carmakers go in the current global climate. But such is the expense of F1, the teams need to justify themselves regularly to maintain investment from manufacturers.
