BMW TO EXIT FORMULA ONE AT END OF 2009 SEASON

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/7/9698.html

Quote :

"BMW will end their involvement in Formula One racing at the end of the current season, it was announced on Wednesday. The move is part of what the German car maker described as a ‘landmark’ decision to restructure its motorsport activities. The news came at a press conference held at the company’s German headquarters in Munich, attended by BMW Sauber team principal Mario Theissen, along with Dr. Norbert Reithofer, the chairman of the BMW board, and Dr. Klaus Draeger, the director for development. BMW became Formula One entrants in 2006 after taking over the Swiss Sauber team. The company said the decision to withdraw stems from a desire to dedicate more resources to developing new, sustainable road car technologies. “Of course, this was a difficult decision for us,” explained Reithofer. “But it’s a resolute step in view of our company's strategic realignment. 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. Our Formula One campaign is thus less a key promoter for us." Paying tribute to Theissen’s leadership of BMW Sauber, who finished third in last year’s championship, Reithofer added: “Mario has been in charge of our motorsports program since 1999. We have scored a large number of successes in this period, including some in Formula One racing. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mario Theissen and his team for this.” Theissen commented: "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. We will now focus sharply on the remaining races and demonstrate our fighting spirit and put in a good result as we bid farewell to Formula One racing.” BMW’s original Formula One involvement began in the 1980s as an engine supplier. With Brabham from 1982 to ’85, the company clinched eight Formula One victories and one world title, courtesy of Nelson Piquet in 1983. Following a final win with Benetton in 1986, BMW were absent from F1 competition until 2000 when they began supplying engines to Williams, taking 10 victories over the following five years. In 2006 the company took over the Sauber team and enjoyed a positive first season as a fully-fledged works entry, finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship, with two podium finishes. The team went from strength to strength in 2007, occupying the ‘best of the rest’ slot behind Ferrari and McLaren. Scoring in all 17 races, BMW Sauber eventually finished second in the standings, behind Ferrari. Last year, the team became championship contenders, with driver Robert Kubica clinching the team’s first pole position in Bahrain and then a maiden win at the Canadian Grand Prix. However, they have found the going a lot tougher this season and have scored just eight points to date."

[Edited on July 29, 2009 at 11:58 AM. Reason : page 4]

7/29/2009 11:47:56 AM

why wait til the end of the season?

7/29/2009 11:50:11 AM

^contracts, most of the stuff is already paid for, and more contracts.

7/29/2009 2:35:24 PM

But the bigger news is that Michael Schumacher is back in the seat.

7/29/2009 2:36:03 PM

Is it official? If so I'm gonna talk mad shit to my roommate, who roots for BMW (talk about a kick in the nuts )

7/29/2009 3:00:12 PM

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/29072009/58/schumacher-returning-f1.html

7/29/2009 4:08:51 PM

God returns to race!!!

I am planning to go to one of the races for sure now!!! i am thinking italy or brazil

7/29/2009 7:32:05 PM

I don't know if I am really happy about Schumi thing or not.

7/30/2009 12:24:16 AM

^me either, but i'm not sure why

7/30/2009 8:31:08 PM

i don't know what you're talking about

8/4/2009 5:55:11 PM

8/8/2009 12:52:18 AM

looks like there is already a champion. these rules bore me

8/8/2009 12:58:10 AM

because they don't race niggered out pussystangs with a bubblegum welded nigger rear end shitfaced drunk into lightpoles at the trailer park?

8/9/2009 4:55:17 PM

Schumacher will not be having any comeback

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77618

8/11/2009 10:38:56 AM

^^that sounded pretty trailer trash good job batman

8/11/2009 11:01:59 AM

valencia will have sooo many empty seats now if Renault and Alonso don't come. Schumacher would have saved them. OH well.

8/11/2009 5:12:29 PM

oh they back

8/19/2009 6:04:58 PM

Hamilton in trouble? oh well

looks like Renault magically got a little fine and are at the race track and Alonso leads............

8/21/2009 9:51:06 AM

Force India on pole?

Go Kimi!!!

8/30/2009 8:54:46 AM

Congrats Kimi!!! no more winless season

8/30/2009 9:28:38 AM

was a really good race this morning.

8/30/2009 5:19:56 PM

I just give you guys a BIG SMILE!

8/31/2009 10:32:41 AM

Fisichella to Ferrari confirmed....dunno if it was a good move...better than luca i guess

9/3/2009 10:57:48 AM

Fisichella will be a test/reserve driver for Ferrari next year.
For F1 drivers...especially Italian ones, driving Ferrari is their long-cherished dream.

I'm very wondering who will drive for Ferrari next year...
Alonso and Massa? Raikkonen and Massa? Alonso and Raikkonen? Or Kubica?
Um... curious curious..

9/4/2009 3:36:02 AM

Why would Fisichella want to become a test/reserve driver even if it is for Ferrari. I mean these days even the drivers don't get as much time behind the wheel except for practice and races. I would definitely just keep being able to drive as much as possible. But of course maybe he's getting good money for it??

9/4/2009 8:28:42 AM

he's old and italian and has probably always dreamed of driving for ferrari

9/6/2009 11:35:48 AM

monza gp

9/13/2009 8:02:39 AM

Congrats Barrichello!!!
wtf hamilton crashes in the last lap!!!

9/13/2009 9:53:21 AM

yeah he had to give it everything to catch up

just not quite enough downforce on that lap.........I think his tyres were going off too much too

9/13/2009 7:09:38 PM

For those confused about fisi, this is basically retirement for him. He has been in the series for a long time and this is a great way for him to go out. But damn, I woul have loved to see what he could have done in a FI today...

9/13/2009 11:34:30 PM

It seems like Renault is always up to no good...

9/16/2009 1:23:57 PM

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090916131922.shtml

Quote :

"Ahead of Monday's Extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in which Renault faces charges of conspiring with Nelson Piquet to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the team announced today that both Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have left the team. "The ING Renault F1 Team will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix," a statement reads. "It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team. Before attending the hearing before the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009, the team will not make any further comment. " Should the team be found guilty of the allegations, the range of sanctions available to the FIA range from a fine, to exclusion from the world championship. Last Friday, September 11, the team announced that they and Briatore had commenced legal proceedings against Piquet and his father over 'false allegations' and 'attempted blackmail'. The team has not clarified its current stance with regard to this matter."

9/17/2009 1:50:06 AM

Flavio admits they ordered Piquet to crash!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP!

this is NUTS. Renault is FUCKED>................

I forgot about all this, just read Speedtv a second ago. WOW

9/17/2009 9:25:34 AM

in other news rumors, alonso to ferrari

9/17/2009 3:35:11 PM

yeah

Renault is going to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay different next season

9/17/2009 3:48:14 PM

bmw sauber bought by Qadbak, gonna be powered by ferrari engines
and lotus will be another new team next yr....interestingly they will be based in malaysia

9/17/2009 4:28:49 PM

I WANT A JOB AT USF1

9/18/2009 5:43:47 AM

the head engineer went to state (and my friend works in the same office as him)

9/18/2009 9:52:26 AM

After reading an article about the latest scandals in Formula 1 it lead me to Google Ayrton Senna and read more about that 'scandal' (if you can call it that) that lead to his death and Formula 1 again being in danger of non existence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ayrton_Senna

9/18/2009 10:03:55 AM

Senna was probably the greatest driver ever!

9/18/2009 10:24:47 AM

i haven't watched the race yet (got it on my DVR), but how can they (F1) prove that he wrecked on purpose? cars spin out all the time, and this particular spinout was in a corner. it doesn't seem that improbable that the driver spun out for any number of reasons. i guess he did it on purpose now that the guys at Renault stepped down and addmitted it, but it seems as though the allegations would be an easy thing to fight and win.


^^^ nice. my plan is to try and land any job i can at USF1 when i graduate with my ME degree. i don't care if i'm sweeping the floors.

[Edited on September 18, 2009 at 6:00 PM. Reason : asd]

9/18/2009 5:58:59 PM

He hit the throttle way earlier and harder on that lap than any other lap. He didn't lift any real amount when the tires started spinning and he didn't hit the brakes once it was completely gone.

9/19/2009 4:25:53 PM

Raikkonen is going back to McLaren?

Quote :

"Kimi Raikkonen has signed an "outline agreement" to kick off a second tenure with the McLaren team beginning next season, the Mirror newspaper reported on Sunday. The British newspaper said the 29-year-old Finn, who raced with the Woking based outfit between 2002 and 2006, must first reach an agreement with Ferrari, with whom he is under contract for one more season. The Mirror cited "paddock sources" in claiming that Raikkonen is prepared to vacate his contracted Ferrari seat in 2010, but only if the famous Italian outfit pays his salary. The newspaper estimated Raikkonen's 2010 Ferrari contract at nearly US $49m. The report also said the news ties in with Nico Rosberg's link with Brawn and the Brackley team's burgeoning relationship with Mercedes-Benz. The German manufacturer Mercedes was said to be pushing for Rosberg to replace Heikki Kovalainen at McLaren, but may now have resolved to push the German driver to Brawn and increase its involvement with the Ross Brawn-led outfit. "

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090920103457.shtml

9/20/2009 9:19:45 AM

Quote :

"In addition to handing Renault a suspended two-year ban after finding the team guilty of conspiring to cause a premeditated crash during last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) has meted out individual punishments to former team principal, Flavio Briatore, and former engineering director, Pat Symonds. The Council decided that Briatore and Symonds, along with driver Nelson Piquet, had acted in isolation in planning the lap 14 'accident', which helped vault team leader Fernando Alonso to the front of the field. Briatore has been given an indefinite ban from FIA-backed motorsport, with the governing body deciding that for an ‘unlimited period’ it will not sanction any event, championship, cup, trophy, challenge or series which involves him. The FIA will also refuse to grant a licence to any team, driver or entity that is engaged with him. Explaining the Council's decision, a statement released by the FIA said: “In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.” Symonds, meanwhile, received a similar ban, but limited to five years, with the Council adding in their statement that the decision was made with “regard to: (i) to Mr. Symonds’ acceptance that he took part in the conspiracy; and (ii) to his communication to the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council that it was to his ‘eternal regret and shame’ that he participated in the conspiracy.” Symonds and Briatore left the Renault team last week ahead of Monday's hearing. Piquet, who was dropped in July, did not face sanction after volunteering his evidence. "

So is Renault not going to be allowed to be in F1 for two years?

[Edited on September 21, 2009 at 12:19 PM. Reason : .]

9/21/2009 12:17:20 PM

2 year ban seems pretty harsh....well they are not ferrari or mclaren, they have to pay

9/21/2009 12:28:54 PM

^^correct. Until the end of the season in 2011 is when the ban gets lifted.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21092009/58/renault-handed-suspended-ban.html

[Edited on September 21, 2009 at 1:18 PM. Reason : .]

9/21/2009 1:17:21 PM

renault is basically on probation if i understand it correctly. If they fuck up again they're out. but briatore is banned full stop.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/22/sports/autoracing/22prix.html?em

9/21/2009 1:19:00 PM

^that is correct. And their head engineer, Pat Symonds, was banned for 5 years.

9/21/2009 1:20:22 PM

If Alonso were not in Renault, probably FIA would have given harsher punishment... Don't you think?

9/21/2009 2:13:00 PM

no if Renult were MCLAREN they would have had harsher punishment!

9/21/2009 9:14:26 PM