BMW to withdraw from F1 at the end of 2009

Naturally the exception to the "evil" manufacturers seem to have been Lotus and Ferrari (yes, Ferrari, they may have big budgets, but they have committed to the sport despite massive dry periods). I guess that's because F1 is a little more in line with their products than with the likes of Jaguar!

In the case of Lotus (and to a smaller extent Ferrrari) the car manufacturer side only existed to fund the racing team. The first series of Lotus (types 1 to 6) were pure racing cars. It was only with the type 7 that a road/race car was developed. The Elite, Elan and Europa all had race versions produced. The first car that Lotus never produced a racing version of (at least in it's initial version) was the Esprit and the first makes where there were no racing versions in any series were the Excel and Eclat.

It wasn't until 1989 that Lotus Cars and Lotus F1 were split. The shares in Team Lotus were bought by Peter Warr and the shares in Group Lotus (Lotus cars etc) were initally bought by GM and the Bugati before ending up in the hands of Proton. Obviously despite several attempts to keep Team Lotus going, the team was wound up in 1994. The assets were purchased by David Hunt who entered into a merger with Pacific GP for the 1995 season (if you look at the Silver Pacific GP cars from that season you will see a Racing Green stripe around the cockpit and a Lotus badge on the nose). The Lotus name went all together at the end of 95. David Hunt retains the name rights and Litespeed F3 were in negotiation with him to return the name to F1 if their application was succesful.
 
It would seem the FIA has re-opened team selection for 2010.

So even if BMW do find a buyer, they will now have to compete with all the other teams for a place.

The FIA has re-opened the selection procedure for the final place on the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship entry list, in the wake of BMW's announcement that it is withdrawing from the sport at the end of the year.

AUTOSPORT understands that yesterday, FIA president Max Mosley wrote to the seven teams on the 'reserve list' - those under consideration for a place on the grid that did not receive an automatic entry in July - as well as BMW Sauber, to inform them that a place on the grid has become available.
Link: FIA re-opens team selection process
 
For some reason, Can't think why, I've got my fingers, thumbs, toes, legs, and every other crossable part of my body crossed.

:whistle:
 
cider_and_toast said:
For some reason, Can't think why, I've got my fingers, thumbs, toes, legs, and every other crossable part of my body crossed.

:whistle:

Don't cross your eyes, its bad for you!
 
FnF said:
When were BMW at their best in F1? When their engine was stuck in a Williams

I would say BMW were at their most succesful in the back of a Brabham. Although they only won 8 races to Williams 11 (I think), they won two WDC's during that time.

What this maybe does prove is BMW should stick to making engines, and try and get the glory from that route, whilst letting the people who know how to make a chassis get on with it. I always felt the decision to get involved with Sauber was more to do with Germanic connections than based on F1 racing pedigree.
 
But we have at least one member itching to know, Lotus? [Cider] And one for Brabham [GM]! And Brogan will want to ensure McLaren are still in, you never know what the dastardly FIA'll do!
 
I don't want Brabham back! Not unless they do it properly (that means Chessington!) They've come back half-heartedly before and that was shocking.

It seems silly to me to give the slot to a new team who then have to buy a load of equipment and hire 100 staff when there is a state-of-the-art factory in Switzerland and 400+ experienced, capable F1 designers and engineers sitting idle. Perhaps the Swiss government will get involved to secure the team's future? Sauber has been extremely good publicity for them down the years.
 
I didn't know that the ban was lifted, I thought it had remained. However, it still isn't showing a great deal of support for motorsport that there was 52 years of ban applied because of one (horrific) accident. When it became clear that the Levegh incident was an utter one-off (No car has since started firing off heavy parts into the crowd) everyone lifted the ban but the Swiss!
 
It looks like BMW are definitely out unless one of the new teams withdraws.

"There should only be 13 teams, that's what there always has been," team owner Frank Williams told Reuters.

"I would suggest they apply to be first reserve. That's the logical thing to do.

"It's illogical to change the rules suddenly for one extra person. And they may have a chance of getting in (as reserves) based on the gossip that's going around.

"If this was Ferrari (who had) somehow retired halfway through a year and wanted to come back, we'd find a way to bend the rules.

"But this is a team that is owned by someone, we don't know who they are, their long-term plans... we're not at all happy until we know who the owners are and their long-term plans. We would like to know."

Williams will vote against a 14th team
 
Campos are also opposed to a 14th team.

If BMW don't get some sort of definitive answer soon then I guess it will be academic as they won't have anything in place to be able to race next season.
 
"There should only be 13 teams, that's what there always has been," team owner Frank Williams told Reuters.

Frank Williams is rapidly turning into F1's Victor Meldrew, he is opposed to nearly everything apart from letting Massa have a few laps in a 2 year old car. The other problem I have with FW's comments is that he is factually incorrect. There has always been a 26 car grid (apart from at Monaco) with some cars failing to qualify but there have been as many as 20 teams viaingfor those 26 places. If Sauber are allowed in next year does this automatically mean 28 places on the grid or would two cars have to sit Sunday out? Would 28 cars really be such a problem, other races series have far larger grids with much higher performance differentials than F1.

I wonder what is motivating Frank at the moment? Williams, unfortunately, have been on a slow decline for many years and I wonder if thsi is simply about protecting is own selfish interest rather than what is good for F1 generally.
 
I wonder what is motivating Frank at the moment? Williams, unfortunately, have been on a slow decline for many years and I wonder if thsi is simply about protecting is own selfish interest rather than what is good for F1 generally.

I agree. More teams means less money in the pot. The percentage lost would be a lot greater in Williams with a smaller budget then at a large team at McLaren.

FW has always put his interests first.
 
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