F1 braced for BMW exit announcement
By Jonathan Noble and Dieter Rencken |
Tuesday, July 28th 2009, 21:26 GMT |
BMW's
future in Formula 1 is in serious doubt amid mounting speculation that
the German car manufacturer will announce its withdrawal from the sport
at the end of this season, on Wednesday.
An emergency press conference has been called at BMW's headquarters
in Munich, where it is suggested that the car company may reveal that
it has decided to end its involvement in F1.
The invite to the press conference said it had been called because of 'current developments in motor sport.'
The press conference will be hosted by Dr. Norbert Reithofer, the
chairman of the BMW board, Dr. Klaus Draeger, the director for
development, and Mario Theissen, BMW motorsport director. The presence
of such senior management figures suggests that the announcement will
be very significant.
Officials at BMW refused to comment about what the press conference
was about, but they did confirm that it was 'important' news.
BMW had hoped to fight for the world championship this year, but
instead the F1.09 has fallen short of expectations. Its struggles,
allied to the abandonment of its KERS, that BMW had pushed hard for in
F1, are likely to have played a part in any decision about the future
of the team.
Although BMW Sauber had a difficult start to the season, Theissen
has made it clear on several occasions that the team's form had not
changed the BMW Board's commitment to F1.
"We analysed and evaluated the situation and the F1 programme with
the board prior to the start of the season in February," said Theissen
in May. "It was overall a very positive evaluation and judgement, and
that hasn't changed.
"Apparently everybody is disappointed about the sporting results,
but other than that there is no news and we have not discussed it
since."
However, sources suggest that a review meeting was planned for July
to decide the future of the team - and this may be behind any
announcement planned for the morning.
Should BMW confirm it is pulling out of the sport, it will be the
second car manufacturer to do so in eight months - with Honda having
announced last December that it was to leave the sport.
The announcement will be more of a surprise, however, because BMW
Sauber was on the verge of signing a Concorde Agreement that would have
committed the team to F1 until the end of 2012.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77398">http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77398
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