Success with the windtunnel and super computer - Theissen

The second place in this year' manufacturers' classification is all but secured for the BMW Sauber F1 Team. The hard work prior to and during the 2007 Formula One season has been rewarded. BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen conveys which technical aids helped achieve this leap in development.

Albert2 commenced operations in Hinwil in December 2006. Weighing 21 tons, the computer on the ground floor of the Swiss team site supports the BMW Sauber F1 Team in the area of Computational Fluid Dynamics, CFD.

Mario Theissen comments: "We have taken a major step earlier this year with the increase of our computing power. I think for the time being we have the biggest CFD computer running and we have managed to align experimental work in the wind tunnel and theoretical work on the computer. These components push each other."

Although most of the development work still takes place in the wind tunnel, Albert2 has proved indispensable in order to achieve a better understanding of the physics of the collected data. "You need both components and the ability to align them in a way that they support each other," Theissen says. "It does not make sense to double or triple the number of runs in the wind tunnel without understanding what goes on. This would always be a trial and error approach whereas the computer provides you with inside information."