Despite another disastrous race in Monaco, BMW Boss Mario Theissen remains convinced that his team is making progress and that new components to be introduced in Turkey will help the team take a major step forward.

After six rounds of the 2008 season, though 17 points down on championship leaders Ferrari, BMW was only 1 point behind McLaren, while both drivers were in the top five in the Drivers' Championship. One year on and the German team is struggling, eighth in the teams' championship, 1 point ahead of Toro Rosso, and 2008 Canada GP winner Robert Kubica yet to score his first point.

In the words of the song, 'Things can only get better', and that's Mario Theissen's mantra as he looks ahead to Turkey.

"After three years in which we have always achieved and even surpassed our goals, this is our first setback," he admits on the BMW team website. "We have to put this behind us, and we will do. The same team gave us our first pole position and put us on the top step of the podium. As a result, everyone is ready and motivated for the fight ahead, as we strive to return to the top.

"We will now immediately analyse the shortcomings, introduce corrective measures, and significantly increase our development speed," he promises. "At the next race in Istanbul in two weeks, we will line up with another new development package. We will use a multi-level diffuser for the first time in Turkey. We are convinced that this will be another step in the right direction."

Referring to the Monaco debacle which saw his cars qualify seventeenth and eighteenth, with only Heidfeld finishing the race, albeit in eleventh position, the German admits: "It goes without saying that everyone at BMW Sauber had envisaged the Monaco Grand Prix turning out differently. "However, what hinted at being a problem in Thursday's first free practice session set the tone for the entire race weekend, from qualifying to the end of the race.

"We could not keep the tyres at the optimal operating temperature in Monaco," he continues, "which resulted in us clearly being slow. Of course, the conditions in Monaco are unique, but our performance in the Mediterranean principality did not meet the standards we have set ourselves."