MOTORSPORT: BMW throws in towel, Schumacher back

Special Thursday report (July 30, 2009)

BMW is quitting Formula One at the end of this year, waving the white flag of surrender after embarrassing failure, but using the quaint term "strategic realignment" to justify it.

F1 is ablaze with talk that Toyota and Renault may follow suit, less than a year after Honda pulled the plug on its F1 team (which Ross Brawn has since resurrected into the world championship leader). And meantime, seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher is returning to F1 racing at 40 years of age, filling the Ferrari seat of the injured Felipe Massa.

That news from Ferrari came barely hours after the man who has managed Schumacher for 20 years, Willy Weber, told London's Daily Mail: "Whoever sits in the (Massa) car at the next race in Valencia (in Spain, on August 21-23) it will not be Michael Schumacher. I am not 100 per cent sure; I am 200 per cent sure!"

Bernie Ecclestone, the man who still pulls almost all the strings in F1, had told The Times: "That guy (Schumacher) was super-fit when he was driving, and to get as fit as that again and be prepared to get back in a car without any testing would be asking too much."

BMW's withdrawal will leave F1 with just four manufacturers – Ferrari (owned by Fiat), Mercedes-Benz (in partnership with McLaren), Renault and Toyota. Only two, obviously, if Renault and Toyota exit too.

BMW's board made the withdrawal decision early this week and it was confirmed last night, Australian time, barely a couple of weeks after the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) committed (verbally, if not down to the smallest of fine print) to remain in the sport until at least 2012.

The past couple of years BMW had become a serious third force in the sport, challenging the traditional dominance of Ferrari and McLaren, but this season – the year it was widely expected may have seen it even become No.1, especially as it was seen as the frontrunner in the development of KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems) – has been a disaster. From 10 GPs so far this year BMW has scored just eight world championship points.

It has botched its takeover of the Swiss-based Sauber team four years ago and now the careers of the supremely talented Polish driver Robert Kubica and the fine Nick Heidfeld may be ruined by its pullout.

BMW's statement (reproduced in full below) is very curious. To this writer it smells more of (anti-Max Mosley and perhaps Ecclestone) politics than a genuine change of direction -- especially as it says at the very outset that the company "will continue to be actively involved in other motor sport series".

The response from the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) is also reproduced below.

As much time is up, or ought almost to be up, for FIA president Mosley and commercial tsar Ecclestone at the reins of F1. These statements are a reminder of what that pair have long, quite rightly, said: that car manufacturers will come and go in F1 as it suits them, and for that reason alone the manufacturers should not be in control of the sport (as they have tried so hard to be in recent times).

Dear reader, I shall not even trouble you with the brief, inane statement from FOTA regarding BMW's move. However, we do draw your attention to a comment piece at TimesOnLine by its senior sports news correspondent (and former F1 reporter), Kevin Eason.

This writer has the utmost confidence that F1 will survive whatever turmoil it endures and disagree with the headline on Eason's article: 'F1 facing a fight for its future after BMW pull the plug'. But I strongly recommend reading the second half of this article after Eason says: "In plain English: they [BMW] spent a shed load of cash and still couldn't win."

We also concur with one F1 fan on a TimesOnLine blog (edited for clarity), who said: "BMW is pulling out of F1 not because of money but because it has found it too hard to compete with its nemesis, McLaren-Mercedes. A good example of this is KERS. Mercedes, along with other teams, agreed to do away with it during this season, its introductory year, but BMW insisted it remained. So what did Mercedes do? Quite simply it produced the best KERS system by far and is now seeing the benefits of its system, gaining the first KERS win in F1 [in Hungary last Sunday]."

Speculation that Renault and Toyota may quit F1, too, has been around since Honda's bombshell late last year, and that talk is now at fever pitch.  Even if they do, F1 will endure.

Toyota appears to have been one of, perhaps the last, stumbling blocks in the signing of a new Concorde Agreement of terms and conditions under which teams participate in F1. The Japanese giant's thoroughly unimpressive F1 president, John Howett, is reportedly in Japan now discussing strategy with the Japanese manufacturer's chiefs.

Autosport.com has quoted a Toyota Motor Corporation spokesman dismissing talk that the company is considering its F1 future. Quite frankly, it ought to feel privileged to be allowed to participate in grands prix -- its performance over 8½ years has been woeful, especially in light of the billions it has spent.

In contrast, Michael Schumacher's performance – in pure statistical terms (a record 91 GP wins!), but not always in his behaviour – is beyond comparison, yet it was almost unbelievable to learn of Ferrari's announcement of his comeback.

While we remain largely unconvinced it is the best thing, after some thought it starts to make sense.

Massa is out action, most probably for the rest of the year. As Niki Lauda points out, Ferrari's test drivers, Spaniard Marc Gene and Italian Luca Badoer, are as good as useless in the context of GP racing – especially representing the (traditionally) premier team.

Even if Renault's suspension from the European GP in Valencia stands (for the errant tyre from Fernando Alonso's car in Hungary), it may have been near-impossible to unlock him from his Renault contract to race for Ferrari in Valencia. In any case, Ferrari "stealing" Alonso may have been enough to tip Renault over the edge and prompt its withdrawal from F1.

It has only been through Alonso's ability that Renault has been anywhere near competitive in recent times, and without him it would have even less reason to continue.

Outside the existing grid, there may have been difficulties finding a suitable driver with a valid F1 super-licence.

And something else that makes the Schumacher comeback more understandable in light of Massa's absence is that there is no opportunity for testing between GPs now. If anyone could adapt to a 2009 F1 car -- even with KERS, after a 2½-year absence -- without testing, it surely would be Michael Schumacher.

That's not to say he's going to be capable of winning GPs again. Doubt he can, or will. But at least Schumi might jerk Kimi Raikkonen into consistently producing efforts worthy of the highest paid driver in the sport today.

But just hope the great man doesn't in any way tarnish his impeccable (stats) record.

"Of course, this was a difficult decision for us. But it's a resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment," explained Dr Norbert Reithofer, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG.

"Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility. This is an area in which we want to remain in the lead. In line with our Strategy Number ONE, we are continually reviewing all projects and initiatives to check them for future viability and sustainability. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us."

Dr Klaus Draeger, the member of the Board of Management responsible for development, said: "It only took us three years to establish ourselves as a top team with the BMW Sauber F1 Team. Unfortunately, we were unable to meet expectations in the current season. Nevertheless, our ten years of Formula One experience have had a major impact on our development engineers. We have racing to thank for numerous technological innovations as well as the competitive spirit that drives us to develop mass-produced cars."

Says BMW Motorsport director Dr. Mario Theissen: "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. But I can understand why this decision was made from a corporate perspective."

BMW will continue its programs in a number of motor sports series: BMW will appear on the starting grid in the touring car series and young driver promotion program in Formula BMW. This will be supplemented by BMW's participation in ALMS, the American Le Mans Series, endurance races and close-to-production customer sports.

It has been clear for some time that motor sport cannot ignore the world economic crisis. Car manufacturers cannot be expected to continue to pour large sums of money into Formula I when their survival depends on redundancies, plant closures and the support of the taxpayer.

This is why the FIA prepared regulations to reduce costs drastically. These measures were needed to alleviate the pressure on manufacturers following Honda's withdrawal but also to make it possible for new teams to enter.

Had these regulations not been so strongly opposed by a number of team principals, the withdrawal of BMW and further such announcements in the future might have been avoided.

Nevertheless, as a result of a sustained cost-cutting campaign by the FIA, new measures are in the process of being agreed which should make it easier for new teams to enter and enable existing ones to participate on much reduced budgets.

It is no secret that these measures do not go as far as the FIA would have liked but a compromise was needed in the interests of harmony in the sport. Hopefully it will be enough to prevent further withdrawals and provide a solid foundation for Formula One.

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