BMW Sauber team principal is certain that the collision between Sebastian Vettel
and Robert Kubica three laps before the end of the Australian Grand
Prix cost the Pole his second victory in Formula 1.
The pair made contact as Kubica tried to pass Vettel for second
position on the outside of Turn 4, having gained ground dramatically on
the Red Bull as well as leader Jenson Button - both of whom were
running on the softer slick tyres.
Kubica and Vettel, former BMW teammates, subsequently crashed into
the barriers further on in the lap because of damage sustained in the
initial impact.
But such was Kubica's late-race pace, that Theissen told the BBC
that Vettel's failure to yield the corner cost BMW dearly: "Sebastian
braked early and I thought: 'This is a clear-cut situation now, I know
him, he won't do in any silly things.' But in this moment it had
happened already.
"It's been very disappointing for both drivers, we are very
confident Robert had won the race because he had closed in on the hard
tyres," Theissen added.
"Both cars in front of him were struggling on the soft tyres. He was
lapping about two seconds quicker and he lost probably a victory,
Sebastian lost probably a podium position and both teams lost valuable
points."
Brawn GP and Button dominated for much of the race, but while
Theissen accepted Button and team-mate Rubens Barrichello had a
performance advantage over BMW in Melbourne, he believes the severe
drop-off on the soft tyres at the end of the race gave Kubica superior
pace.
"The Brawns definitely had performance in hand on the car side, but they were struggling with the soft tyres as well," he said.
"The upside is that the car was really quick. Robert was putting in
very quick laps on the hard tyres and that shows that we are on the
pace which is good for the coming races."