Kubica bitter after missed title chance

Robert Kubica

(GMM) Robert Kubica is now bitterer than ever about his missed opportunity to win the 2008 world championship.

The Pole was in the running for last year's title until late in the season, when he mysteriously fell off the pace after declaring that BMW-Sauber had instead decided to focus on its 2009 campaign.

But the failure of the Hinwil team's current title bid was starkly demonstrated last time out at Monaco, when Kubica and his teammate Nick Heidfeld qualified a dire eighteenth and seventeenth respectively.

"Situations like this are common in motor racing; you never know where you are going to be next year. That's why I was disappointed last year when we did not seize our chance when we were very close to the front," said the 24-year-old in an interview with Germany's Sport Bild.

BMW, headed by team boss Mario Theissen, has made much of the fact that, in 2006 through 2008, it reached and surpassed all of its meticulously planned targets. This year, the target was to challenge for the titles.

"In our team everything is always planned step by step," Kubica confirmed. "But sometimes you have to deviate from your plans.

"When the opportunity for me to drive in formula one came I could have said 'no, it's too early for me. I would rather wait for another year'. Instead you have to seize your chances, otherwise things could pass without you," he added.

The winner of last year's Canadian grand prix also criticized BMW's rate of development since the beginning of the season, when asked about the progress made by top rivals Ferrari and McLaren in 2009.

"Even in weak phases these teams come back quickly," Kubica explained. "At the start of the year McLaren was much worse off than us, but after the FIA allowed the double diffusers, they overtook us.

"It seems like they simply can develop faster and adapt better," he said.