Comments on: BMW – Bizarre Manufacturer Withdrawal

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:25 +0000

Many thanks for your comment, Agnieszka.

I don’t think the fact that Formula BMW is continuing is particularly strange. BMW is still involved in other forms of motorsport, and besides Formula Renault and Formula Ford have both stuck around for the long run, whether Renault and Ford were in F1 or not.

I agree, though, that their decision to pull out seems irrational, based on short-term assumptions rather than long-term planning.

By: agnieszka

agnieszka — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:16:47 +0000

Do not you thing that the withdrawal is really bizzare as they not only stay in WTCC but also in Formula BMW which isone of the “schools” for F1 drivers – will they train talented youngsters for other teams? Also, in my opinion as long as I understand that the requirement to sign the Concorde Agreement may be did not help BMW stay on the grid it is hard to believe that the BMW board does not understand that these kind of busines plans are made for longer period that one year… The decision sound to me completely unreasonable unless they expected their involvement in F1 would be constant success without any “hiccough” as Dr Theissen said on Wednesday and the rose without the thorns…but this would mean somebody does not understand the basis….

By: doctorvee

doctorvee — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:22:38 +0000

smboyce, thanks for the comment.

I imagine like in most workplaces, BMW Sauber had a “business as usual” approach until the very last minute. BMW (the manufacturer)’s decision seems sudden, but my guess is that the BMW Sauber team was only aware of something distant before this week, but were issued with an ultimatum of sorts for the Hungarian GP? It’s possible. I just think in the light of recent events, some of what BMW did at Hungary seems to make more sense. Of course, I could always be reading too much into it!

By: F1 links: Kubica didn’t expect BMW to quit | F1 Fanatic - The Formula 1 Blog | F1 video | F1 pictures | F1 news | Lewis Hamilton | Fernando Alonso

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:17:00 +0000

[...] BMW – Bizarre Manufacturer Withdrawal [...]

By: smboyce

smboyce — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:53:36 +0000

I don’t think the team knew what was coming – they put new adverts in for a race engineer and an aero engineer in Autosport this week for example. A team that knows it’s about to announce it’s quitting the sport doesn’t advertise for new senior staff, surely?

By: Cridland

Cridland — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:42:21 +0000

> it wasn’t the only uncharacteristic
> behaviour from BMW over the weekend.
> Robert Kubica’s team radio
> transmissions on Friday

Hadn’t noticed… Good catch! (It felt weird at the time, but not weird enough to stay in memory until Wednesday, “Quittin’ Day”