BMW Sauber boss Mario Theissen says the team is aiming to score its first Formula 1 victory at the very least in 2008 as it looks to close the gap to Ferrari and McLaren.
The Hinwil-based squad comfortably emerged as the seasons third-fastest team this year, with its impressive F1.07 car propelling it out of its perennial position in the midfield and behind just the top two.
Now looking ahead to the outfits third year under BMW ownership, Theissen admits it is looking to make the next step over the winter, and although he concedes it wont be easy, he is hopeful of at least one win in 2008.
Obviously that's what we're aiming for, he said in an interview for team sponsor Credit Suisses e-magazine.
We want to win our first race next year, and I hope that ultimately it'll be more than just one victory.
But we also know how difficult that'll be, because both Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes have been at the top for many years now and they obviously have a head start in terms of experience.
Getting one up on those two teams will be a hard nut to crack.
While it maintained it position behind the top two teams for the whole of the season, it faced increasing competition from Williams, Red Bull and Renault in particular over the closing races of the year.
Theissen acknowledges his team isnt the only one with lofty ambitions for 2008 and says that with the pressure upon many of its rivals to deliver only increasing, BMW must guard against complacency.
Not only are our rivals far from standing still: They're also under massive pressure, he said.
That's why we need to deal with a situation where everyone is putting their foot down just as much as we are.
Renault is the first that springs to mind on that score.
In the closing races of this season, I also saw good form on display from Williams and Red Bull - and so we need to keep our eyes on them too.
As for Honda and Toyota, it's difficult to guess how things will go for them.
BMW topped a century of points in a season for the first time in 2007, with Nick Heidfeld bagging 22 more than his highly-valued young team-mate Robert Kubica.
Theissen says there were various reasons why Heidfeld led the way for the majority of the season but says he expects to see the pair much closer on pace from the off next season.
It was due to a whole series of factors, he said.
At the start of the season, Robert had more technical problems to contend with, and he found the switch to standardised tires more difficult to deal with than Nick.
On top of that, there was his serious accident at the Canadian Grand Prix.
In the second half of the season, the two of them drove significantly closer together; next year, therefore, I'm expecting them to be on a par.
