Stefano Domenicali has admitted he expects
Robert Kubica to push Ferrari's drivers
Kimi Raikkonen and
Felipe Massa all the way for the 2008
Formula 1 world drivers' laurels, after the young Pole's sparkling performances in the opening three races of the campaign.
Kubica has twice qualified on the front row of the grid so far this year including sensationally beating Massa to pole position in Bahrain last time out and stormed to podium finishes in both Sepang and Sakhir, in the latter case finishing within five seconds of the dual scarlet threat. He now sits joint third in the drivers' title chase equal on points with both McLaren-Mercedes aces with
BMW atop the constructors' standings for the first time, and Domenicali believes both the young Pole and his Munich and Hinwil-based outfit will remain a thorn in Ferrari's side season-long.
I think Kubica drove a very nice, positive race, the man who replaced Jean Todt as the
Scuderia's team principal is quoted as having said by South African website
motoring.co.za. It was Kubica's second consecutive podium finish, and the pace he and BMW have deserves respect from us all.
His BMW team-mate
Nick Heidfeld was fourth, showing that the team is now one of the genuine front-runners and a real threat to
Ferrari.
He [Kubica] told me on the podium he struggled a bit when dealing with the oil in the first corners, but I believe he will be in the title fight until the end.
Whilst waxing lyrical about the potential of the first Polish driver to make it into the top flight and tipping him to become a future world champion in the uppermost echelon, echoing the words of
Lewis Hamilton Domenicali also insisted it would be rash to dismiss
McLaren's chances in 2008, despite the Woking concern having now suffered two bad races in a row and relinquished their hold on both the drivers' and constructors' tables.
We will see this in Barcelona, the Italian stressed. That is where things will settle down. Every team has tested there and I'm convinced McLaren will be back to its usual form.
