After USA 98 went for her inaugural sail earlier today in Auckland (see previous blog post), this morning in Valencia the BMW Sauber F1 team launched their new car designed for the 2007 season. Dubbed the F1.07, here is the scoop on its launch from the ITV website (check, too, the BMW Sauber team site for more)....


BMW aims for 'next step' with F1.07
Tuesday, 16, January, 2007, 08:24

BMW motorsport boss Mario Theissen was keen to stress that the F1.07 was the first car wholly designed by the new squad since the German carmaker bought Peter Sauber's team in 2005.

The squad impressed in 2006 with fifth place in the constructors' championship and although it scored two podium finishes in the latter stages of the year, Theissen still insists that regular podium finishes are still its stated targets for the coming campaign.

"We scored 36 points [in 2006] and there were six teams behind us between zero and 35," he said.

"And the four ahead of us had at least 50 points more.

"So it’s quite a big gap but the good message is that every point we earn, they lose so the gap closes from two sides.

"And as I said before we want to take the next step with this car."

Full story on the ITV site

On Tuesday 16 January, our friends of the BMW Sauber F1 Team will present to the media and public their 2007 car, the BMW Sauber F1.07.

After the unveiling of the BMW Sauber car at the “Feria de Valencia” -- the city’s state-of-the-art trade fair centre -- the new car will have its roll-out at Valencia's track known locally as “Circuit de la Comunitat”.

The fact that BMW has selected Valencia as the venue for this event stresses the strong connection between BMW and our adopted home city of Valencia. Obviously, the BMW Sauber team feels similarly comfortable here as do we of BMW ORACLE Racing. Indeed, last year BMW Sauber chose Valencia to present the then new F1 team to the world's media.

We in the AC game know all the work and emotion in "launching" a new vehicle. Only a week ago our second and last new ACC yacht for this campaign, USA 98, arrived at our winter training base in Auckland, NZL. High hopes and a lot of development work go along with achieving such a milestone -- whether in the AC or F1.

Your Ed. and a number of our BMWOR colleagues will be on site tomorrow for the BMW Sauber launch, and very much look forward to getting a first glimpse of the car. We plan to take a few snaps of the excitement, and then get a post up here about tomorrow's hopefully auspicious proceedings later in the day.

For those of you who cannot be present, check out the BMW Sauber F1 Team’s official website. There will be a live stream of the unveiling from 0900 CET on Tuesday.

Are you ready for the next step in BMW Sauber's quest for F1 supremacy? Tune in tomorrow.