BMW managed team from 2006.

Munich - BMW is striking out on a new path in Formula One. After
acquiring a majority shareholding in the Swiss Sauber team, a BMW
managed team will be contesting the Formula One World Championship as
early as 2006. This was decided by the BMW Board of Management on
Tuesday. It means that, for the first time in company history, BMW will
be competing independently in Formula One. Professor Burkhard
Göschel, BMW Board Member for Development and Purchasing:
"This decision is a strong, long-term affirmation of BMW's
commitment to Formula One. We anticipate that Formula One will emerge
strengthened from the current restructuring phase and that it will
continue to represent the top echelon of motor sport for the future as
well. For BMW, Formula One is thus the right platform for demonstrating
our competence as a car manufacturer. Success in Formula One
increasingly depends on the perfect interplay of all factors. That is
why we have resolved to extend our involvement beyond our present role
of engine partner. With a team managed by BMW we will, as of next year,
take on responsibility for the entire package, which will include the
key factors of the chassis, tyres and drivers. Naturally this decision
impacts on our partnership with WilliamsF1. We want to discuss the
future options together with WilliamsF1 in order to find the right way
forward for both sides. We do not expect instant success from the new
constellation, but we are convinced that we have chosen the right path
for the long term." Dr Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director:
"The realignment of our Formula One strategy is based on two
insights. Firstly, the influence of the engine on the winning potential
of the overall package has diminished; the car, tyres and drivers play
a greater role than they used to. Secondly, from our point of view, an
optimal overall package can only be achieved with a fully integrated
team and coherent processes throughout. In restructuring we are taking
account of these insights. At Sauber we have found a solid foundation
for vehicle development and production, along with the requisite
know-how and one of the most modern wind tunnels. The results achieved
there so far are worthy of respect in the light of the team's limited
budget. BMW will not only maintain this foundation but build on it.
That applies both to the facilities and to the staff. Additional
workplaces will be created at the Sauber headquarters in Hinwil. The
new team will be managed as a fully integrated project from two
locations, as has long been standard practice at BMW for series
production. We are aware that we face a learning curve, that although
you can plan success you can't buy it off the peg. After showing that
BMW is capable of building the best Formula One engine, we are starting
out as it were at apprenticeship level on the complex task of tackling
the vehicle as a whole. That demands patience and stamina. We possess
both, as well as a concrete work programme. The technical cooperation
has already begun. In the partnership with WilliamsF1 we have
celebrated successes together and taken the team forward. Both partners
today are stronger than at the outset of our joint venture and are thus
equipped for the future. What that future will look like will be
decided over the next weeks. Irrespective of that decision, we are
concentrating on the current season. We still have quite a few goals for
this year and we will apply all our powers and professionalism to
implement them together with WilliamsF1." Presentation at the
start of 2006. In parallel with that, based on the Board's decision,
the new structure with managerial and key positions, including the
driver line-up, and the name of the new team will be worked out by the
takeover date of 1st January 2006. Development of resources are being
driven forward with urgency and immediate effect. The team will
present itself to the public at the beginning of 2006. The factory in
Hinwil will continue to be operated as a legally independent Swiss
company linked to BMW Motorsport. The expansion of BMW's Formula One
involvement will not impinge on other BMW motor sport projects. In
future, BMW will continue its commitment to touring car racing - both
in the new World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) and in leading
individual events such as 24-hour races. Formula BMW with its four
series in Asia, Britain, Germany and North America will also continue.
This year it will feature a world final for the first time. Peter
Sauber: "For Sauber, the partnership with BMW is an ideal solution
as it supports the two goals which have always been paramount for me:
firstly, to offer the team the possibility of improving their sporting
performance, and secondly, to safeguard the site at Hinwil and the jobs
of today's 300-strong workforce. The involvement of six car
manufacturers has resulted in significant changes to Formula One in
recent years. For the private teams in particular it has become
increasingly difficult to secure the kind of solid financing that will
also allow for sporting success. For some years I have also been
thinking in terms of succession planning - in the light of the very
specific demands of Formula One, that is no easy matter. The
partnership with BMW guarantees continuity. For that reason, too, it
represents an ideal solution, because I know it will give the workforce
a very good outlook. Over more than 35 years, I have guided this
company through often stormy seas, which is why it is so important for
me to know that it will be in good hands in future as well." The
new partnership is also made possible by Credit Suisse, which over the
next three years will successively sell off its shares in Sauber
Holding AG to BMW as well. Credit Suisse took over these shares in 2002
with a view to placing them with suitable investors in due course. Urs
Rohner, Member of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group, comments:
"We are looking forward to working with BMW. What you associate
with BMW and Sauber are, on the one hand, longstanding experience in
motor racing and, on the other, efficiency and dedication. That creates
an ideal basis for a successful team. Credit Suisse, moreover, will be
an Official Partner of the team for the next three years."
Background BMW Motorsport: Generating innovative technology for
sporting contests and record attempts has always been part of BMW?s
identity. After world records and championship titles with aero-engines
and motorcycles, a one-two win in the 1940 Mille Miglia marked one of
the first international touring car successes with the BMW 328. In
post-war Germany, motorcycling ace Schorsch Meier became a national hero
on BMW's flat-twin Boxers. Since 1966, BMW has earned 24 FIA-approved
titles in touring car racing alone - both European Championship and
World Championship titles. The national titles accumulated by BMW
drivers are numberless. The winning cars: BMW 1800Ti, 2002Ti, 2002, 3.0
CSL, 320, 635CSi, 528i, M3 and 320i. Up to and including 1992, BMW M3
drivers secured more than 1,500 individual wins and 50 titles. From
1993 to 1998, 29 championship titles were won around the globe with the
BMW 320i. In 2001, the FIA once again sanctioned a European title for
touring car racing, which was promptly claimed by the BMW 320i. In
2003, BMW won the Manufacturers' title in the FIA European Touring Car
Championship (ETCC) and successfully defended it in 2004 as well as
winning the Drivers' title. In 2005, BMW is competing in the FIA
Touring Car World Championship (FIA WTCC) with the 320i. With a total
of 18 overall wins, BMW is by far the most successful manufacturer in
the 24-hour races on the Nürburgring. Beyond that, BMW has won the
24 Hours of Spa 21 times. In 1999 it claimed overall victory in the Le
Mans 24 Hours with the BMW V12 LMR. Building on ten years' experience
of junior talent promotion, BMW Motorsport took an ultra-modern vehicle
to the grid for the 2002 season - the Formula BMW. In conjunction with
a unique Education and Coaching Programme, the Formula BMW
championships in Asia, Britain, Germany and North America have
established themselves as the international benchmark. In Formula 2, a
BMW four-cylinder engine was the yardstick during the period from 1973
to 1982, taking six drivers to a European Championship title. In 1980,
BMW announced its first Formula One involvement. Paul Rosche took a
production four-cylinder engine block and turned it into a 16-valve
turbo unit reduced to 1.5 litres, which by the end of its career had an
output of around 1,400 bhp. On 23rd January 1982, Nelson Piquet lined
up on the grid at Kyalami, South Africa, in a Brabham BMW, and in June
the Brazilian took his first GP victory in Montreal. In 1983 he became
World Champion. The ninth and final BMW turbo victory was claimed in
Mexico in 1986 by Gerhard Berger in a Benetton BMW. At the end of 1987,
BMW halted its F1 engine production. New regulations had come into
force and the era of sheer turbo power was over. In 1997 BMW announced
it would return to Formula One in 2000 ? with a three-litre normally
aspirated V10 engine and with WilliamsF1 as its partner. It turned out
a textbook comeback: third in the World Championship in the debut
season, second in 2002, and a title contender right up to the final in
2003. 2004 proved a lean year, with no victory forthcoming until the
final race. The BMW Formula One engines were designed and built in
Munich from the outset and, including BMW's own engine management
system and foundry, and in close alliance with the BMW Research and
Innovation Centre. BMW's Formula One division currently employs 300
staff. BMW Motorsport has a workforce of 350. Sauber Motorsport AG:
Peter Sauber founded PP Sauber AG, later renamed Sauber Motorsport AG,
in Hinwil in 1970. In the early years, the qualified electrical fitter
built competition sports cars for entry in the national car
championship. The Swiss racing team first attracted international
attention in 1976 when Herbert Müller gained overall victory in
the European Interseries driving a Sauber BMW C5. In the mid-1980s,
Sauber became the Mercedes-Benz works team for the World Sports Car
Championship. The climax of this partnership was a one-two win in Le
Mans in 1989 and two successive titles in the World Sports Car
Championship (1989, 1990). In 1993 Sauber moved up to Formula One and
managed to gain two world championship points in the very first race,
the South African GP in Kyalami. SAUBER PETRONAS emerged as one of the
most successful private teams, claiming a total of six podium places.
In 2001 the Swiss team came fourth in the Constructors' Championship.