"I am delighted that Nick will retain his seat with the BMW Sauber F1 team in 2009," manager Andre Theuerzeit added, "Nick has made a major and effective contribution to improving the team's performance over the past few years and, in the coming season, we intend to go one stage further towards achieving the ambitious targets we have set ourselves. The fact that Nick and BMW together are a 'well-oiled' and successful team has certainly been a major plus.

"This season has by no means been an easy one for Nick, and we have come in for some criticism at times. But, following the Canadian GP, Nick got down to some intensive work with the team to iron out the problems and his performance then improved. He engaged in some serious analysis and fought his way back into contention in a really impressive way.

"I am convinced that, as the season has progressed, Nick has got even stronger and the understanding he has with his engineers has become even deeper. Although it's too early to speculate about the impact any changes in the regulations may have, I think these are more likely to work to Nick's advantage.

"Next season, we can certainly expect great things from Nick and the BMW Sauber F1 team. And, as for the last three races of this season, I'm convinced that Nick will be in the thick of the action and add to his points haul."