Bmw Rocks F1 After Confirming Decision To Quit

F1 has been rocked by an announcement from BMW that the car manufacturer is to leave the sport at the end of the 2009 season citing a desire to focus on sustainability and the environment as opposed to elite racing.

BMW becomes the second major manufacturer in the last eight months to withdraw from F1 following Honda’s decision to end its investment in the sport.

In a statement BMW chief executive Norbert Reithofer commented: ‘We are of the opinion that the premium segment has to remain a positive role model within our society.

‘We will remain loyal to motor sports, but we will do this in series that enable us to transfer technology more directly and to realise additional synergies.’

The news comes ahead of the imminent signing this week of a new Concorde Agreement, the commercial document that governs F1 and binds the teams to the sport for the length of the contract.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said he believes BMW’s failure to challenge for the world title is behind their withdrawal.

‘Recently when I spoke to Mario Theissen, the team manager, he said they had three years to win the world championship. That’s what he wanted to do and he was quite confident they would. But it appears it’s not quite been like that, so perhaps that’s why they’ve chosen to stop.

‘If I was looking after their politics, if you want to say that, I’d hardly say that we decided to leave because of our performance over the last three years. When you consider how much money they’ve spent and the results they’ve got, it’s probably not such a good investment.

‘They were quite sure that they were going to win the championship within three years, and I was hoping they would.’

BMW drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica have amassed only eight points between them this season to leave their team eighth in the constructors’ championship.

The controversial Concorde Agreement has been the focus for much upheaval in the sport in recent weeks with the F1 teams demanding a greater say in the future commercial strategy.

The row over the deal between the F1 teams and world motorsport governing body the FIA has led to the end of Max Mosley’s reign as president of the latter organisation with the controversial figure not standing for re-election when his current term expires in October.