His performance deserves respect - Theissen

So far, Robert Kubica has succeeded in truly shining as BMW Sauber F1 Team test driver. In his first appearance, in Bahrain, he even secured top position on the time sheets in the first free practice session. And in Malaysia, he once again proved to be one of the quickest drivers.

BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen is convinced that it was a good decision to sign Robert. "Most definitely, Robert proved to be a positive surprise," he praises the young Pole. "So far, he has not only met our expectations, he has clearly exceeded them."

For Robert, both circuits represented virgin soil. But the 21-year old learns quickly and his contribution was particularly helpful when it came to making the tyre choice. "He knew neither of the Bahrain or Malaysian cicruit but succeeded in quikly setting competitive lap times, nevertheless," stresses Theissen. "Robert provided a lot of data for Nick and Jacques. His performance deserves respect."

So far, Robert has covered a total of 96 laps of the BMW Sauber F1 Team and succeeded in matching the pace of experienced test drivers such as Alexander Wruz (Williams). His team-mates appreciate the performance of the young gun. "The data gathered by Robert can be easily adopted by us," claims Nick Heidfeld. "Yet, it will take us some more races to make a more exact assessment. But he already comes across as an experienced driver."