The most important thing about the weekend for BMW was that Kubica came in only one lap earlier than Kimi and only two laps earlier than Massa. This establishes one thing that is quite important and another thing that is very important.

First that they are not that far off the pace and that they may well be in the hunt for second place in the constructors championship.

Second, and most importantly, it shows that Dr Mario isn’t in it for the PR. There was some expectation that Robert might have been on a very low fuel strategy which had flattered to deceive. But actually while he was slightly light he was genuinely in the hunt.

Sadly for BMW one factor remains the whole front section of the grid was messed up. Kimi was in a lighter car but never quite got it together. Massa should have been on pole but made two mistakes on his flying lap. These things gave Robert the pole. He was of course the only driver to keep it on the black stuff properly and string the lap together so of course Robert deserves that pole. But the car itself isn’t quite as strong as it might have seemed. Something we could see in the race.

The big plus point for BMW is how far off the pace McLaren seem.