BMW to leave Formula One at end of 2009

[mike]

agreed, quality should be maintained. But when a team doesnt care about racing at all, and only about the money, we should let teams like prodrive who are genuine racing people to race in F1 rather than a big spender that does nothing for the sport beside show up.

Not involve in racing for me is just as bad as racing in a under funded outfit.

And btw the teams that you mentions are not "pure" manufacturers.
Ferrari- a racing team that sells cars to race
Mclaren- Pure racing team, also sell stuff to make ends meet
Brawn- Pure racing team
RBR- they don't care about money, they have too much

[Belatti]

I trade the USF1, Campos, Force India or whatever kit-cars for a third RBR, Ferrari, McLaren or Brawn any day of the week. Let me repeat that , any day of the week.

I dont.

People like Bruce McLaren, Frank Williams, Colin Chapman or Ken Tyrrell were the ones that made this sport wonderful. One of the reasons why I loved F1 was because a man with dreams could pick up and engine, build a car and be a legend.

MANUFACTURERS ARE HERE TO USE THE F1 IMAGE... MARKETING... MONEY!

They dont have the racing sense the men I mentioned had.

Many critizised Force India at the beginning. Now they are a decent team. They are not 19 and 20 in the grid anymore. And with out the need of the 700 million dollars Honda used to develop the Brawn.

Many are speaking sh*t about Campos, Manor, Epsilon Euskadi, etc, etc. But those team are fruit of a man dream, not a marketing department. A man with fuel racing in his veins, not a bullsh*t speaking marketing graduate with a hidden agenda.

I sincerely hope Renault and Toyota leaves and Mercedes sells its stake to McLaren. Ferrari will always be Ferrari. Let F1 be again what it was before Bernie and Max associated to destroy group C and bring manufacturers to F1.

[mike]

I think the problem is Balance Chassis vs Engine Freedom
If you allow too much Engine freedom the maufacturers will have a huge advantage
and If you have too much Chassis freedom teams like RBR and other teams have a chance.
Since only the big manufacturers can play the expensive engine game.
Why dont we just have pure Chassis teams.

With engine suppliers play their marketing games as well as men with dreams burning they savings and going to doubt that they have to sell their blood and fill it with fuel and passion for the sport

[i70q7m7ghw]

What I say is that I rather have a third Ferrari, McLaren, RBR or Brawn and a higher average quality of the field, than dumbed down, low-cost, kit-cars to fill the grid.

I understand and do sort of agree, I'd like to see more teams like Red Bull for example. They are in the sport for racing, they are like a racing team that is completely funded by a sole sponsor. I'd like to see more of that, teams like Prodrive funded by big sponsors. McLaren works very nicely, the won't let Mercedes have full control which is good! They are maintaining their independance.

[joseff]

Does this mean Robert Kubica is going to race for Ferrari in Valencia?

[jonathan189]

Kubica is going to be at BMW for the rest of the year.

[axle]

Does this mean Robert Kubica is going to race for Ferrari in Valencia?

BMW are still in F1 till the end of the season and Kubica is still contracted to them. However yes it would aloow the possibility however I expect Ferrari to only approach drivers who's appearance in the team wouldn't upset Massa...

[jddh1]

I trade the USF1, Campos, Force India or whatever kit-cars for a third RBR, Ferrari, McLaren or Brawn any day of the week. Let me repeat that , any day of the week.

I dont.

People like Bruce McLaren, Frank Williams, Colin Chapman or Ken Tyrrell were the ones that made this sport wonderful. One of the reasons why I loved F1 was because a man with dreams could pick up and engine, build a car and be a legend.

MANUFACTURERS ARE HERE TO USE THE F1 IMAGE... MARKETING... MONEY!

They dont have the racing sense the men I mentioned had.

Many critizised Force India at the beginning. Now they are a decent team. They are not 19 and 20 in the grid anymore. And with out the need of the 700 million dollars Honda used to develop the Brawn.

Many are speaking sh*t about Campos, Manor, Epsilon Euskadi, etc, etc. But those team are fruit of a man dream, not a marketing department. A man with fuel racing in his veins, not a bullsh*t speaking marketing graduate with a hidden agenda.

I sincerely hope Renault and Toyota leaves and Mercedes sells its stake to McLaren. Ferrari will always be Ferrari. Let F1 be again what it was before Bernie and Max associated to destroy group C and bring manufacturers to F1.

Nicely argued.

Some say that Keonningggsessggggginignggs wants to enter F1 and I wonder if it's for racing reasons or for marketing their brand. If they enter for the racing, they might turn out like Ferrari, making production cars to fund their racing team.

With the BMW exit and perhaps Renault's as well, I really do hope that we go back to private teams. With that said, I still would take FOTA's cost reductions measures rather than Max's.

[roost89]

I am saddened to see BMW leave. I liked their car and ability to challenge last year. I think if they stayed on they'd have a good chance next year of challenging for wins.

For the Independents vs Manufacturers. I like seeing the mix. The Independents shoving it to the Manufacturers. Like Red Bull (I consider them an Independent as they've no car based backing) sticking it to Brawn (Honda) and everyone else.
However I'm enjoying the Manufacturer backed teams fighting back!

It's what I like about the WTCC, MotoGP and all other forms. A good independent can really annoy the manufacturer based teams.

Where are Kubica and Heidfeld going to go? To one of the smaller teams and help with development or to a more established team with seats up for grabs?

[-KMR_NH-]

For the sake of the Sauber guys I just hope that someone will take over the team. I'd say that it's a good opportunity for a new team as they won't have to build up everything.

[-KMR_NH-]

I just cannot understand BMW to pull out of F1. They took over Sauber and started to progress pretty well, imo. Just this season isn't that good, but I don't think this is the reason why they quit. If so, they should start thinking.
Really sad to see what happens to my favorite team Sauber. I hope for all the employees that they will keep their job or get another one.

[WhiteBlue]

To have third cars is the bancruptcy declaration of F1. It means that F1 have become sterilized and unable to offer creative and competitive people a chance to take up the challenge and rise to the top. People who cannot see that are blinded by FOTA propaganda. There must be a reasonable chance to enter F1 and to succeed with a reasonable budget as we typically saw in times when F1 was a hot bed of competition and teams in the 90ties. Those people who belittle new entrants and fight an independant engine supplier do not have the good of F1 in mind. They have their own agenda and supremacy motives.

FOTA will not bring a spirit of competition to F1, FOTA will not be innovative, FOTA will not even keep the manufacturers in F1. It is simply the vehicle of the richest existing teams to fight the necessary and reasonable policy of the FIA that was meant to invigorate F1. Look what they have come up with after one year of existance. We have lost two manufacturers and in the end there will be a resource capping instead of a cost cap. All this fighting has only damaged F1 and slowed the necessary change.

Manufacturers will only stay and come back to F1 if they are offered a talking point for their products. In the old days it was the most powerfull engine and the fastest cars. Today we have the challenge to produce cars that are fun to drive and are still affordable through innovative technology. F1 had the chance to promote energy saving technologies and say goodbye to the old aero box thinking. Manufacturers like BMW were prepared to develop KERS, HERS and highly efficient engines. Mercedes even demonstrate that they accept to have to give KERS to other competitors in order to develop in that direction. F1 needs to keep exciting engines and fascinating performance. But it also needs to embrace the future of the automobile. The future is hybrid and electric and will be dominated by manufacturers who offer the most performance per kJ of fuel and the most fun per $. It is unthinkable that F1 rewards teams that find more downforce and punish teams that build engines with higher energy efficiency. Unless F1 gets its priorities right the exodus of manufacturers will continue.

I say it is masturbation to have a grid full of Ferraris and McLarens in five years and no other teams. But that is the future unless a radical rethink starts soon.

[bill shoe]

Well said, White Blue.

BMW's exit anouncement said the main reason they were leaving was that their future company image must revolve around sustainability and green-ness, and F1 wasn't going to achieve this. This was a direct rebuke to FOTA's recent smug "agreement" to not use even modest KERS systems next year. FOTA never had any suggestions about how to make KERS cheaper or more effective, they just wanted to use it as a political message. Now FOTA has "succeeded" beyond their wildest dreams.

[ISLAMATRON]

Told you so!

FOTA has done nothing good for F1, F1 as it stands is not sustainable. Max tried to lower costs and introduce innovation but FerrariOTA fought against it... for what? minimal cost reduction and absolutely no technical innovation.

BMW just realized they were on the wrong side all along, so they decided to pull out before they had to sign up for the next 3 years of FORMULA high cost, low tech. F0 ROI

[xpensive]

Interesting analysis you got there Islam, one of the driving forces behind FOTA suddenly realizes they have shot themselves in the foot and thus commits suicide?

You should share this theory with a wider audience.