Bye Bye BMW

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Only_in_f1

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BMW's future in Formula 1 is in serious doubt tonight amid mounting speculation that the German car manufacturer will announce its withdrawal from the sport at the end of this season, on Wednesday.

An emergency press conference has been called at BMW's headquarters in Munich, where it is suggested that the car company may reveal that it has decided to end its involvement in F1.

The invite to the press conference said it had been called because of 'current developments in motor sport.'

The press conference will be hosted by Dr. Norbert Reithofer, the chairman of the BMW board, Dr. Klaus Draeger, the director for development, and Mario Theissen, BMW motorsport director. The presence of such senior management figures suggests that the announcement will be very significant.

Officials at BMW refused to comment about what the press conference was about, but they did confirm that it was 'important' news.

BMW had hoped to fight for the world championship this year, but instead the F1.09 has fallen short of expectations. Its struggles, allied to the abandonment of its KERS, that BMW had pushed hard for in F1, are likely to have played a part in any decision about the future of the team.

Although BMW Sauber had a difficult start to the season, Theissen has made it clear on several occasions that the team's form had not changed the BMW Board's commitment to F1.

"We analysed and evaluated the situation and the F1 programme with the board prior to the start of the season in February," said Theissen in May. "It was overall a very positive evaluation and judgement, and that hasn't changed.

"Apparently everybody is disappointed about the sporting results, but other than that there is no news and we have not discussed it since."

However, sources suggest that a review meeting was planned for July to decide the future of the team - and this may be behind any announcement planned for the morning.

Should BMW confirm it is pulling out of the sport, it will be the second car manufacturer to do so in eight months - with Honda having announced last December that it was to leave the sport.

The announcement will be more of a surprise, however, because BMW Sauber was on the verge of signing a Concorde Agreement that would have committed the team to F1 until the end of 2012.
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http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77398


Discuss.
 
Speculation of course, they could be announcing something else instead....

But if indeed they are leaving, then they prove an excellent point about manufacturers and their frail loyalty to the sport - good ridance, get in some teams who actually stick around and don't leave after screwing up!

Hmmm, I wonder if Branson would consider this team purchase? They could potentially do another Brawn :lol: Maybe thats the announcement? :lol:
 
Who cares if they're leaving, maybe now a new team can join that won't quit if they suck. Even if they still provide engines, nobody would buy them.
 
Unfortunately, it's official now. On the bright side, perhaps Prodrive or Lola could take their spot!

BMW has announced that it will be withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season. The announcement came in an emergency press conference at the manufacturer's Munich headquarters on Wednesday morning as the marque becomes the second major car company to leave the sport within eight months.

With the meeting believed to have been scheduled at late notice, today's gathering saw principal figures in the company deliberate with F1 team principal Mario Theissen; the talks come in a week where the Concorde Agreement - full regulations which all teams would follow - is set to be signed and commit those involved to competing until the end of 2012.

"Of course, we, the employees in Hinwil and Munich, would all have liked to continue this ambitious campaign and show that this season was just a hiccup following three successful years," commented team principal Theissen. "But I can understand why this decision was made from a corporate perspective. We will now focus sharply on the remaining races and demonstrate our fighting spirit and put in a good result as we bid farewell to Formula One racing."

BMW powered Formula One cars dating back to the 1950s, with more recent spells coming as engine supplier with the Brabham team in the 1980s. BMW re-entered F1 with Williams in 2000 before taking victory with Ralf Schumacher at the following year's San Marino Grand Prix. In all, 20 race wins have been clinched courtesy of BMW power, including that of Robert Kubica in Montreal last season.

Wednesday's announcement will result in inevitable job cuts, with a total of 730 workers on its F1 project spread between Munich and Swiss team base Hinwil, which has been expanded massively in recent years since the takeover of independents Sauber.

BMW first entered as a team in its own right for seven races across 1952 and 1953 before returning as a constructor after buying Sauber in 2005; on the grid in its traditional Bavarian colours the following year, Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld spearheaded the team's line-up until the former World Champion was replaced by Robert Kubica, Poland's first F1 driver, in Hungary. In Indianapolis in 2007, BMW was the first team to run Germany's Sebastian Vettel, replacing Kubica after his huge Canadian Grand Prix accident. A first pole position was clinched by Kubica in Bahrain last year before winning the Canadian Grand Prix and leading the Drivers' championship mid-season. Heidfeld recorded fastest laps in Malaysia and Germany as the team continued its gradual progress, including top three Constructors' results in both of the last two seasons.
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Source: http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/07/29/official-bmw-to-leave-f1-at-end-of-2009/
 
Yup, now confirmed :( http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77400

Doh! I was looking forward to a 26 car grid next year. Probably a bit late now for another team to take their place in 2010 but you never know I guess. I feel most sorry for the Sauber employees who 3 years ago must have thought that their long term future was secure.

Hopefully Kubica can find a seat to stay in F1 in 2010, he's certainly more deserving than some others currently filling seats :)
 
Sauber is the team not BMW therefore it's more like an engine supplier leaving the sport. It does however mean that Sauber need a new engine and new sponsors.
 
Tired Tyres
Sauber is the team not BMW therefore it's more like an engine supplier leaving the sport. It does however mean that Sauber need a new engine and new sponsors.
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BMW bought out Peter Sauber, so if BMW quits F1 so does Sauber. There's a chance that someone could buy back the Sauber side of the operation, their factory was one of the most modern before BMW even took it on.
 
darkfinal
But why? WHY? Weren't BMW going to kick some asses last year? And the year before that?

Gah. :(
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As I understood it from www.formula1.com, BMW's intention was not merely to have succes in F1, but to use F1 technology to improve their road-going cars. Correct me if I'm wrong :)
 
They've been embarrassed this year. As we saw with Honda, if the results don't come, teams will disappear. The FIA must continue to make the sport as financially feasible as is possible, maybe reducing some of the ludicrous racing fees might help (but then Bernie might have a cheque bounce! Poor fella.) Don't be surprised to see Toyota and Renault go before the end of the season if performance doesn't improve.
 
Sureboss
They've been embarrassed this year. As we saw with Honda, if the results don't come, teams will disappear. The FIA must continue to make the sport as financially feasible as is possible, maybe reducing some of the ludicrous racing fees might help (but then Bernie might have a cheque bounce! Poor fella.) Don't be surprised to see Toyota and Renault go before the end of the season if performance doesn't improve.
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That's why the FiA tried to push through fixed-cap budgets - but the manufacturers didn't want them :rolleyes:
 
I thought they pulled out because of the terms behind it, something to do with those who went on to the caps could test more than those who didn't. Can't remember it exactly.
 
They (FOTA and the FIA) couldn't agree on how to reduce budgets and how a reduction would be policed.

We might have someone to fill the gap though:

Autosport
Epsilon Euskadi interested in BMW slot

By Pablo Elizalde Wednesday, July 29th 2009, 10:16 GMT

Epsilon Euskadi would be interested in taking the BMW Sauber team's vacant slot in Formula 1 in 2010, if the German squad is not sold on to new owners.

Epsilon was one of the teams to submit an entry for next year's championship, but in the end the FIA opted to give entries to Campos Meta1, Manor Grand Prix and Team US F1.

Epsilon boss Joan Villadelprat insisted however that he was still hopeful of making the grid in 2010 if one of the 13 teams on the list failed to compete.

Despite time running out to get the project ready in time, Villadelprat said his team is still working on its F1 plans and would be willing to take the spot if it was left open.

"We are still working on the project, at a much slower rate obviously because we don't have the security [to be on the grid]," Villadelprat told AUTOSPORT.

"What we can say is that the people who were interested in helping us are still interested, which is something incredible. And if the opportunity arises, we are going to attack it, there's no doubts about it."

The former F1 team manager admitted he was surprised about BMW's decision following all the work the German car maker has carried out for the future of the sport.

"I'm surprised because they have done a lot of work, on the Concorde Agreement, and being members of FOTA... But it's the always same with big manufacturers, and in the end it's other people making the decisions, and that's what Max Mosley feared and what he was saying."

On Wednesday, BMW announced it will withdraw from Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season, and it is not yet known if the former Sauber squad will remain on the grid next year under a different name.

Board member Dr. Klaus Draeger said BMW was yet to decide on what it will do with the team or its staff.

"Since we only made this decision yesterday, we cannot provide any more precise information," he said. "We will develop and assess various scenarios and do our best to find a solution for the employees in Hinwil and the staff members involved in the Formula 1 project in Munich.

"We are aware of the responsibility we shoulder and will inform the staff as soon as we can make a clear statement."
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Sureboss
I thought they pulled out because of the terms behind it, something to do with those who went on to the caps could test more than those who didn't. Can't remember it exactly.
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Yes, they weren't prepared to cut their budgets, but didn't want those teams that would run to a budget (likely the independent teams) to have an advantage.
 
F1 has reached an unprecedented level of absurdity. Who’s next? Toyota? Renault? Brawn? Whatever the conjuncture, a sport dominated by cash to this extreme is not viable I guess. What was the point of this FOTA/FIA war in the end?:yuck:👎:grumpy:
 
I don't think we're out of the woods yet. I suspect that Toyota and Renault could quit soon too.

Hopefully BMW will return to the DTM.
 
At least Prodrive or Lola can make it in now. That would be even better news.
 
GilesGuthrie
I don't think we're out of the woods yet. I suspect that Toyota and Renault could quit soon too.

Hopefully BMW will return to the DTM.
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F1 could look very different next season.

BMW didn't show any interest in the current version of DTM before they entered F1. I'd like to see them enter but I won't be surprised if they don't.
 
PJ-FFL
Who cares if they're leaving, maybe now a new team can join that won't quit if they suck. Even if they still provide engines, nobody would buy them.
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What's wrong with their engines? I know they've been a little unreliable recently, but its not a terrible engine, better than the Cosworth it sounds anyway.
 
Unfortunately, PJ-FFL does have an unfortunate problem of speaking before he thinks, so at times he comes off as rather naïve. :\

If you'll remember, I think BMW did quite well for themselves a few seasons ago (2nd and then 3rd in the Constructors consecutively?). This season reflects poorly on them, I must admit, but then again, last time I checked, Ferrari weren't exactly lighting up the podiums this season, same applied to many former front runners.
 
It's just 1 season gone wrong. I understood why Honda left, so much money lost with no good results at all, but that was their whole time in F1. BMW haven't compplained about losing money on investing in F1, so that really means they have no confidence. They simply expect good results. I know that Ferrari is the same, but they're far away from leaving F1 because of bad results.
 
GilesGuthrie
Hopefully BMW will return to the DTM.
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I have always thought the V8 M3 was a cry to return towards both DTM and LeMans series. I can see how they leave as it wont profit their roadgoing cars (Porsche and audi come to mind), yet am still saddened to see them leave on a down note. I am unsure wether other teams will leave for the same reason but most likely they will for the runaway costs of F1. Toyota comes to mind with their "its broken! Lets throw money at it 'till it's fixed" type of work.
As a goodbye I'll go play FSONE 08...
 
Yep, that's why BMW acted now. Either they pulled out now or they would have to stay in F1 until 2012.

Renault keeps being totally silent, and that's not good news. It seems they are also faced with the same dillema (if you consider leaving, you must say it now)
 
I don't think the name Sauber should be allowed to die out like this. It's a bit like Minardi: not as famous as Williams, but with its own claim to glory. The team always struck me as a finder of new talent; after all, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa both started their careers with Peter Sauber's squadron. That said, not a few drivers have gone to the team to let their careers die - I'm thinking Jacques Villeneuve here - but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to fade into obscurity.

I don't really know who should replace them. Epsilon Euskadi have put their hands up and said they'd be willing and that they continued their Formula One program even after they failed to make the cut. They also claimed to have secured sixty-five million Euro worth of funding every year for the next four years, and they've got facilities in Spain (after all, USF1 are working with them). But that said, they're supposedly a bunch of slackers who can't concentrate lone enough to see one project through. Robert Kubica might have been third in the World Series by Renault, but their WSR campaign has been in freefall ever since, and while the Epsilon Euskadi ee1 was by far and away one of the most gorgeous Le Mans cars in the event's history, it also had the performance qualities of a brick and hasn't been seen since.

If BMW are looking for a buyer, then geographically, Team Superfund would make the most sense. However, I have very little faith in them given that they attempted to start their own single-seater series that was pretty much stillborn. And you can bet N.Technology will put in for the place, but if I'm right about them - I suspect their lawsuit against the FIA is an attempt to force one of the new teams out so N.Technology can take their place after N.Technology burned their bridges too soon - then they don't deserve to be on the grid.
Ardius
What's wrong with their engines? I know they've been a little unreliable recently, but its not a terrible engine, better than the Cosworth it sounds anyway.
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Aye, it's not a bad engine at all. Robert Kubica might have minced six of them by now, but Nick Heidfeld hasn't been having any trouble with them. I have no explanation for that, but the BMW isn't that bad.
 
At last some better news. 12 teams signed the new Concorde agreement. This should wipe any speculations of more teams to leave F1 in the near future. Hopping Sauber could fill that 13th spot. link
 

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