[sridhar24]

Certainly Great news for Sauber and I always love to see an BMW F1 team and Mario Theissen might be the team principal for the team. Williams might have BMW as their engine partner next season which is left to williams only, or williams could also have Toyota as the engine partner named as Williams-Lexus. But BMW have said that Williams would get the same engine as Sauber and it won't be second rate or second class.

[johnjacob]

Originally Posted by Deeps

I highly doubt BMW would go the Jaguar way. I would argue that the biggest reason for Jaguar going bust was the lack of stability in the personnel from the mechanics to the managers.

And also the reluctance of Jaguar's parent - Ford - to keep pumping in the money required to bring the team up to form.

BMW on the other hand is pretty flush with cash (they don't have losses the way the blue oval does). And BMW's board is pretty convinced of the need for the company - especially a premium and sporty car manufacturer like BMW - to have a good motorsports presence. (Actually the prime mover who convinced the board to enter F1 was Wolfgang Reitzle - the former number two at BMW).

[Deeps]

Originally Posted by johnjacob

And also the reluctance of Jaguar's parent - Ford - to keep pumping in the money required to bring the team up to form.

BMW on the other hand is pretty flush with cash (they don't have losses the way the blue oval does). And BMW's board is pretty convinced of the need for the company - especially a premium and sporty car manufacturer like BMW - to have a good motorsports presence. (Actually the prime mover who convinced the board to enter F1 was Wolfgang Reitzle - the former number two at BMW).

True! But even BMW don't spend money unsensibly. Thats why they are not present in the DTM. But then again, no other form of motorsport is comparable to F1.

[sridhar24]

Jacques Villeneuve is willing and very happy to work with BMW but it wouldn't be surprising to see JV being replaced by BMW with some other driver like Nick or even Rubens if he leaves ferrari. Check this link Jacques Villeneuve

[shibujp]

The BMW engine in the Williams car is accepted as one of the highest revving and most powerful engines in F1 today. This is manifested in the straight line speeds that the Williams cars display.

However the chassis and aerodynamics of the car is pretty ordinary compared to the front runners in the pack. Methinks that BMW is going to benefit from the Sauber chassis which is pretty good and if they can improve on this I think they will have a competitive gig going.

And I think a lot of the crew will stay just as in the case of Red Bull. Makes no sense to replace an experienced crew.

Anyway as RTech said, going on alone in F1 is an entirely different piece of cake as opposed to just being an engine supplier. We'll know whether BMW has what it takes in 2006.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Aditya]

Jaguar's parent company, Ford gave them a budget of $180 million and expected them to compete with McLaren Mercedes / Ferrari / BMW Williams who had budgets more than 3 times that of their own. It was never going to work. They had to pull out. Besides, Ford said that they were withdrawing Jaguar from F1 because it would look stupid if they continued to spend on racing when they were making big losses while selling cars.
Toyota jumped into Formula 1 at about the same time as Jaguar. They too got a thrashing, but persisted. Look at their standings now.
I think BMW will go the Toyota way. Their financial status is way better than that of Jaguar. 2007 might be rather soon. I expect BMW to start performing by 2008. Their engines are good, but it'll take them some time to get their chassis sorted out. I don't think a Sauber is as good as a Williams.

[Hatari]

i think its a good move..
engine's dont play as big a role as aero, tires in F1

its the correct thing to do