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Thread: BMW to withdraw from F1?!

  1. #1
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    BMW to withdraw from F1?!

    BMW has called an emergency press conference today where the company is apparently going to announce its withdrawal from F1 at the end of the year:

    autosport.com - F1 News: F1 braced for BMW exit announcement
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    Nooo.... the KERS rejection must have hit too hard....
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  3. #3
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    They were doing pretty well until this year too.
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    I think it would be great if the manufacturers got step back and return to their engine supplying role. Toyota already serves Williams and Renault Red Bull. BMW could easily supply engines next year to one of the new or existing teams teams and make money doing it.
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  5. #5
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    It's official...

    BMW Sauber F1 Team - Website
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    Hmmm, I wonder what this means in terms of politics.

    I believe it's too late for other teams to be accepted as official entries...

    Max Mosley was proven right in his attempts to induce a cost-cap, although BMW will leave even now that the cost-cap is about to be signe.

    I wonder if they will face legal actions from FOM, since I believe that they have commited to stay in the sport until 2012. At least they haven't signed the new Concorde Agreement..
    Minimising losses can maximise net gains

  7. #7
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    Well the team may not necessarily disappear. Perhaps they can continue as Sauber (BMW) in 2010. They still used the old Hinwill based Sauber factory. It might be cheaper to hand Peter Sauber his team back than to fire all employees. The engines are basically sealed so they need no development and can be manufactured relatively cheaply.
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  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by BMW Press Release
    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Thank you for joining us at such short notice here today.

    Yesterday, the Board of Management made the following decision:
    • We will realign our motor sports activities.
    • The BMW Group will end its Formula One activities at the end of the 2009 season.
    • We will remain active in the field of motor sports, focusing on close-to-production motor sports and promoting young drivers.
    • We will pool our expertise and financial resources in the fields of sustainability and new technology development.

    In 2007, we set the foundation for a strategic realignment of the BMW Group by adopting our Strategy Number ONE. Now we are rolling out this strategy in all areas within the BMW Group.
    In addition, we initiated an internal change process that goes hand in hand with a new mindset throughout our workforce.

    All measures and activities aim for the same goal, namely to ensure our company’s future viability.
    This is the focus to which we are dedicating our resources and capacities, while constantly adjusting them to new requirements.
    The BMW Group is the world’s leading premium car company in the automotive industry. We believe that this demands accountability
    • with respect to our products,
    • with respect to who we are as a company,
    • with respect to our social commitment,
    • and with respect to the premium business model.

    We are of the opinion that the premium segment has to remain a positive role model within our society.
    By launching our Efficient Dynamics technology program, we began early on to reduce our vehicles’ fuel consumption and emissions significantly. Today, our BMW and MINI fleet in Germany consumes a mere 5.9 liters of fuel on average. This is below the average of Germany's largest-volume brand.
    Sportiness and dynamics remain the key attributes of all BMW models, albeit paired with responsibility.
    At the IAA, we will showcase a concept car as a“CO2 champion” to demonstrate a whole new dimension of driving pleasure with regards to efficiency with performance.

    In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability.
    We made this clear with the initial announcement of our Strategy Number ONE. And, naturally, this also includes motor sports.
    And I have always been clear about my position on making tough decisions that will help ensure the BMW Group’s success over the long run.
    As our company places stronger focus on sustainability initiatives, our participation in Formula One becomes less a key promoter of this engagement.
    It goes without saying that this step was very difficult for us—as well as for me personally.
    On behalf of the entire Board of Management, I would like to express our immense gratitude to Mario Theissen for his commitment and successes.
    Everyone knows that the BMW brand embodies sportiness with sheer driving pleasure. Sportiness and fair competition are firmly encoded in our DNA.
    This is why we will remain loyal to motor sports. But we will do this in series that enable us to transfer technology more directly and to realize additional synergies, while strengthening our brand values. This is in our customers’ best interest.
    As a company, we are making a paradigm shift based on our Strategy Number ONE. We are setting new priorities in an ever-changing environment.
    The focus of the BMW Group will be towards sustainable development over the next years and decades to come.

    Our vision remains clear: to be the leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility.
    We will pursue this vision with resolve.

    Thank you for your attention.
    So far the official statement..

  9. #9
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    More and more companies are quitting. F1 is gonna be soooo boring next year...
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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roentgen View Post
    F1 is gonna be soooo boring next year...
    nothing changes then?
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  11. #11
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    Fota has expressed its intention to help save the team:

    autosport.com - F1 News: FOTA vows to help save BMW Sauber
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roentgen View Post
    More and more companies are quitting. F1 is gonna be soooo boring next year...
    ...who quited apart from them?

    I agree with Wouter, less involvement of the manufacturers could be a good thing.
    Brawn and RBR, or even STR last year, proved that there is no need of car maker behind the scene (even if Brawn's pace is decreasing now that money for development is required, but RBR money << Honda money, so I still stand correctly, I think).

    Just my guess: beack in the nineties when car makers were baking teams only with sponsorships and engines, the level of the costs was established by how much money sponsors were about to pay. Each team had to gain something at the end of the season, so to survive, and to gain even more so to develop a good car for the following year. So there was a tighter relationship between money and performance.
    Maybe Ferrari was a bit immune from this, or maybe for them things never change after all, Marlboro always payed big money for the contract as far as I can remember.

    Btw, now that car makers are directly involved, they aren't aiming to gain money out of F1, but rather out of the brand's image being built trough F1, so there isn't a direct need to gain as much money (if not more) as those being spent during the same year, and therefore the level of costs is related to how many ad they are making out of F1, and not to the performance achieved.
    Even if it's correct to state that winning (so a good performance) would be the best ad, Toyota is there to prove us there is much more than winning in their interest, or at least it used to be when the economic situation was better than now, which led to Honda and BMW to step down, but only now, after many years of poor results, especially compared to the costs.

    With privateers running the game I think the costs will be more tied up with the results, and this could sort of auto regulate the level of the former.
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  13. #13
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    I love FIA's statement in "not surprised" by the quitting of BMW...more chances to shove the our cost cutting is better down everyone's throat.

    Fact is, 2009's the budget was probably higher than 2008s, with the unnecessary cost of KERS, a complete redesign of rules and redesign again mid season for the lousy DDD(down to poor rule making), add to the fact that for them, they have not been performing well at all(and thats a very relative term because, the "poor" performance now is 1.5 sec from the top, vs back in old days that would be 3-4 sec), they are just not getting the return for spending all the extra cash.....rule stability is paramount for something like a manufacturer to embrace(we are talking about people who make their product on a 4-6 years life cycle...), add to the fact that the history of years of shady business practice by FOM, it's hard to justify for companies to accept being played around constantly like this....and thats why you have FOTA in the first place....

    Maybe Sauber can get his team back, the cost should be lower in 2010 anyway, the question is if BMW will keep the team afloat like Honda did...
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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by RacingManiac View Post
    I love FIA's statement in "not surprised" by the quitting of BMW...more chances to shove the our cost cutting is better down everyone's throat.
    Indeed, the FIA statement is rather peculiar. The FIA did try to cap costs, but for the 2009-2010 season. This would make no difference to the BMW decision.

    BMW decision was down to poor results for the money invested. The poor results were a factor of the double diffuser and KERS, both FIA sanctioned.
    Minimising losses can maximise net gains

  15. #15
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    I wouldve expected to see Renault or Toyota leave before BMW, but the 3 of them have all been mentioned as being on shaky grounds since Honda pulled out.
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