BMW to quit F1

[anth_dci]

I dont know how many people on here watch the F1 but im a big fan. This news has just come out at a pressconference. They will quit at the end of the season. No real suprise there though. Im not expecting renault and toyota to follow suit.

[Stranger]

BMW will announce their figures in the next few weeks so I'm not expecting them to be good. I see this as a pre-emptive strike at placating shareholders and investors.

Shame really although there's an off chance that we may see Sauber back if BMW do a Honda and sell Peter the team for £1

Also, Toyota's John Howett has been summoned to Tokyo at short notice, a Toyota board meeting is taking place within the next week or so

I would've expected Toyota to go pretty soon after Honda tbh, they've been in it longer than BMW and have thrown much more money at it with very little to show for it. Then you can read another story which says that Toyota have declared they are staying, who knows

[IainMW]

From the start of the season there have been murmurings about other manufactures dropping out following Honda's exit at the end of last year.

Given the current economic climate and their recent lack of form it's not surprising BMW have decided to pull out, there is speculation that Renault and Toyota could be next? If you look at F1 over the years this has happened (to a similar extent) on many occasions. This also happens in other motor sport series and formulas; there is a distinct pattern that repeats over and over again.

Lots of good independent teams in a competitive series
Manufacturers come in,
Costs go up,
Smaller teams drop out because they cannot compete financially and technically,
Cost get too high and only certain manufacturers win so other manufacturers drop out.
Independents and new small teams left to carry on and pick up the pieces.

Just look at F1, Indycar/Champcar, BTCC and DTM over the past 20 years.

The FIA and FOTA's plans to reduce costs can only be a good thing if manufacturer led teams and independents can compete at the same level

[Stranger]

That's where I have a problem with F1, it's supposedly the pinnacle of motorsport where new technology is tried, tested and developed and yet they bring in sill engine rules whereby engines must last x number of races or you only have 8 engines for the year, this is of course to try and reduce costs so that smaller teams can compete but to me this stifles exactly what F1 is about, development.

Imo works and customer teams should be allowed to work alongside each other. For example; most teams develop their own chassis and aerodynamics but buy the engine and gearbox from a supplier, there is a hellish cost in aerodynamics and as such there should be specialist aerodynamicists that work seperately and are allowed to sell their designs to teams thus reducing the costs to the teams and focussing the series on chassis, engine and driver talent.

KERS the investment needed to develop that technology is astounding and now they're looking at dropping it for next year

I'll go now before I blow a fuse