BMW endures tough baptism of fire.

BMW Sauber lost a potential points finish on their debut as a fully fledged factory team, when an early collision for Nick Heidfeld and a fiery engine failure for Jacques Villeneuve cost both drivers the chance for a top eight position.

The race started particularly badly for Heidfeld who saw his afternoon hampered almost immediately after the start when Nico Rosberg outbraked himself into the first corner and tapped his fellow German into a spin and down into last place.

Despite a strong fight back that included a riveting tussle with David Coulthard through the turns one, two and three, Heidfeld slipped further back after the pit stops, eventually crossing the line in a somewhat disappointing 12th place, particularly after qualifying an impressive tenth.

"Obviously things started badly as Nico Rosberg spun me in the first corner," he said after the race. "I lost a lot of places and that ruined my race. I was able to fight back and had a particularly exciting battle with Coulthard. It's difficult to assess our performance after only one race but naturally it's disappointing when you start tenth and can't score any points."

Villeneuve meanwhile capitalised on a strong start to run in the top ten early on from his 11th place starting position and was running just outside of the points when BMW suffered the dubious honour of having the first engine to blow spectacularly in race conditions on lap 35.

"My start was not particularly great, but I managed to find my way through the first few corners and to stay out of trouble there," he said. "The race set-up was fine and I settled into a good rhythm. I overtook Coulthard and stayed in front of Raikkonen for quite a while. Then all of a sudden I started to lose power, and that was it."

Despite their obvious issues out on the track, team boss Mario Theissen admitted that their outright race pace was not satisfactory compared to main rivals Williams and Red Bull Racing and that they still have some way to go before they reach competitiveness.

"The start of the weekend was promising, but unfortunately we could not maintain our performance for the race. Jacques. car suffered a serious engine failure, without any warning. The unit was removed immediately after we got the car back, and sent to Munich for analysis.

"Nick was the victim of a collision in the first corner with Nico Rosberg, and was relegated to the tail of the field. From there he recovered to 12th but the lap times were not as good as expected. That shows that we have started well but still have much to do."