Bmw Sells F1 Team To Swiss Investors
German car manufacturer BMW says it has agreed to sell its F1 team to Swiss-based Qadbak Investments.
BMW has been looking for a buyer for the team since it announced in July that it was pulling out of the sport at the end of the current season.
Qadbak has already invested heavily in sport after buying Football League club Notts County FC in July through its Munto Finance company.
The news came as F1’s governing body gave BMW Sauber ’14th place’ on the grid next year, meaning they are first reserves to fill any vacancy.
The FIA has announced the expansion of the F1 grid to 13 teams for next season, with Lotus, Campos GP, Manor and US F1 all joining.
However, it will be ‘consulting urgently’ with the 10 existing teams with a view to increasing the number of teams to 14.
There are also doubts over the F1 future of current teams Renault and Toyota.
Renault are embroiled in a race-fixing controversy while Toyota insist they are not signing off their F1 budget until November.
Despite previous doubts over its future, the FIA described BMW’s application as ‘high quality’ and a team statement said: ‘We are pleased to confirm that the FIA has indicated that we may have a place in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship.
‘The team expects to line up on the grid for the first race of the 2010 season.’
BMW has not revealed financial details of the deal it has agreed with Qadbak, a company which it described as representing the interests of ‘certain Middle Eastern and European-based families’.
