Robert Kubica was very impressive when he came into the
BMW Sauber team and he definitely made his team-mate,
Nick Heidfeld, sit up and take note. I think he dragged Heidfeld along and made Nick up his game. He didn’t seem to have any major problems settling in. Whether with a whole season we might see some chinks in his armour I don’t know. There were a couple of little errors, which he made during one of the races, which cost him a strong result. But overall we would have to say quite impressive.
Q:
Was Kubica the rookie of the year then?
MB:
I would say so, yes, because he came in with a thump in terms of making an impressive on the grid. He kept punching all the way to the end of the championship in the races he was in. He definitely made an impact.
Q:
While those two new hopes made a mark, Schumacher wasn’t the only driver to bow out. Jacques Villeneuve was dropped by BMW Sauber after the German GP and
Juan Pablo Montoya was released by
McLaren after the US GP.
F1 is going to miss both of those people isn’t it, as they were just such great characters?
MB:
That is definitely the case - they are characters. Jacques Villeneuve is his own man and says what he wants to say, which has maybe cost him a bit in times gone by. Unfortunately for Jacques, he was probably driving as good as we have seen him drive for sometime and things were coming together, but there was still a bit of a stigma attached to him being involved with BMW Sauber and that was what cost him. But he has gone on to do, maybe, some bigger and better things in his life now anyway.
