BMW to withdraw from Formula 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MaxD]

Well, I said it would happen and it has.

BMW board have scheduled a press conference to announce 'significant and important' news concerning their F1 programme...

I said that due to lack of success, these car manufactuers would leave one by one and that BMW would go first in light of this season's lack of wins.
Wow, these company's really 'love' the sport and are so 'commited' to it as they all say in their press releases aren't they!

Tell you what, the start of 2010 with new blood and teams like Manor Motorsport couldn't come quick enough.

I'm also goingto stick my neck out and say this:
If Renault do not land Alonso's signature long term and win some races this year, THEY WILL GO TOO.
Toyota might be the richest team in F1 at the moment and the biggest car maker outside of USA but they too need success and they're not going to get it with the drivers they have either - so THEY WILL GO TOO.
These car manufactuers are BAD for the sport and the sooner they all leave and we get some 'proper' teams in the sport, the better.

So long BMW - and many congratulations on the number of titles you've won - oh no wait a sec, you didn't did you?!
And how much did you spend doing it?...
:-"

[canon1753]

I doubt it, but, they could just remain as an engine supplier....

Its interesting that Honda bought BAR and left (to become Brawn)
BMW bought Sauber and left(we think) maybe remaining as Sauber (also speculation)
the next one is Renault bought Bennetton maybe they'll leave to become Briatore F1
Toyota builds team.....

[V12-Power]

Indeed, BMW leaves F1. It's already written on Bild.de and they always know these things first!

Probably that's good for F1, maybe not for the moment, but for the future developement. As already mentioned by my pre-posters, BMW won't be the only manufacturer that will leave, I also think that Renault and Toyota will leave soon.

I hope that maybe some teams the FIA didn't choose for 2010, will fill the space. But I rather doubt that...

[MaxX]

I never liked the F1 just being a simple manufacturer class, so this trend might not be that bad.

The manufacturers still can be present as engine suppliers and the cost explosion will hopefully be under control. I still don`t like the hard & planned budget limit by the FIA.

I also expect Renault and Toyota to withdraw if they don`t win races soon. The F1 costs more and more money and if you are not succesfull (sometimes even if you are succesfull) you have a very fat and ugly minus in your yearly bilances. Only Ferrari and maybe Mercedes have costumers expecting "their" brand sucessfull in F1, so they can`t quit that easily.

[MaxD]

From what I hear, Kubica is being targeted as Massa's replacement for the rest of the season.
Micheal Schumacher returning is a definate no, no matter what is reported.

I just think the engine manufactuers should be permitted to just be engine suppliers - like the good old days.
People say that F1 wouldn't be the same without the manufactuers and that it would be GP2 class...

Well, if they care to think back just 10 years to 1999 - the total of fully blown manufactuers with their own teams (building chassis, engine, etc)were 1.
One!
And that was Ferrari...
I seem to recall those years preceeding and just after weren't too bad, and that was with 1 manufactuer...

Good riddance to all the manufactuers say I (although do leave you engines behind guys!)

[Gabriele]

Hmm, I do not know how to react... I would be sad if Sauber will remain without money, and witdraw the team from F1. A couple of years ago, it seemed BMW could fight for title (and a little before also, when it was Williams-BMW), but now is just a backpacker with some sprays of good performance.
I can understand the strategies: lots of money involved during years, "kers-issue" with again lots of investments, rules change, and then ending in nothing... I do not fear manufacturers exiting from F1... Bernie does. He forgot that Ferrari is more or less the only manufacturer left since 1950, but it's such a particular case.

[Greyhead]

Epsilon Euskadi have said they'll step in to fill BMW's shoes if the FIA wants them. Of course this would still mean that a lot of people in Hinwil would be jobless but at least EE know how to design and build their own cars, so as jobs disappear in one place, they'd be replaced somewhere else.

But hopefully the core of the BMW Sauber squad will remain. It'd be a shame for all that expertise to just go. I always quite liked Peter Sauber, he was sensible about the way he ran his team, and although they were never going to set the world alight as Sauber, they'd done a decent job.

[F1-Master]

Who needs BMW? Schumi is back [-o<

[HF]

Yeah, it's verry sad about this. The hardest thing to me was the poor Mario Theissen at the press conference in Munich. Did yo' saw his face?

[Greyhead]

Something intriguing in the back of yesterday's issue of Autosport magazine though. In the job pages BMW Sauber had placed adverts for a race engineer and senior aerodynamicist!

[AD]

This is bad news. Potentially, another one of those now quite traditional names in the sport could be lost.

(Back from the coast...)