Motor racing-BMW expect Sauber F1 engine deal by end of June

SBS9828X SG

BARCELONA, May 7 (Reuters) - BMW expect to finalise by the end of June a deal to supply Sauber with Formula One engines next year, BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen said on Saturday.

Talks between the German carmaker, who currently work solely with British-based Williams, and the Swiss team started earlier this year and Theissen said they were constructive and well advanced.

"It's not just about money, it's much more about how to co-operate and how to make it work," Theissen told reporters at the Spanish Grand Prix.

"It's not that easy. Some problems have to be solved to make our engine work in their car next year and that's why its not completed yet.

"We are making progress, I don't see us under time pressure and I expect an agreement before the end of June probably," added Theissen.

"I think there is quite a high probability that we end up with a deal."

Sauber have used Ferrari engines since 1997, under the branding of sponsor Petronas, and the Italian team have said that while they are willing to continue the arrangement they do not expect Sauber to do so.

BMW have had an exclusive arrangement with former champions Williams since 2000. There has been speculation in the media, however, that BMW could be thinking of buying Sauber.

"That is speculation and we generally don't comment on speculation," Theissen said.

"We have the desire to be successful in Formula One. It doesn't matter too much in which role and that is why we have entered the partnership with Williams several years ago," he added.

Asked whether there were any circumstances under which BMW might terminate early their contract with Williams, Theissen replied: "Not on the agenda".

source from yahoo.com

Gedanken SG

Not sure why the newer thread on this topic was discontinued, but anyway....

From the looks of it, Williams is more likely to be carrying Cosworth engines than BMWs, which could be a good thing. Compared to BMW, Cosworth have more experience with V8s, and it would be better to make the switch next year when everybody's coming to terms with moving from V10s to V8s, rather than stick with BMW for '06 and switch in '07 when they'll be even further behind the 8-ball.

Of course, if SFW were to go with Honda, Ilmor or Toyota, all of whom have V8 experience, they'd be much better off than with a small concern like Cosworth (no more Ford backing), but there's not much chance of that happening.

All said, looks like '06 is going to be another tough year for Williams. They're stuck between remaining with an unenthusiastic BMW and an underfinanced Cosworth. Ultimately, with the bad blood between Williams and BMW, Cosworth is the way to go but it'll just be the lesser of two evils.

iveco SG

Ged: sometimes having too many threads on a similar subject may be messy.

Back to topic, whether Williams will switch to Cosworth or have a similar arrangement with Beemer as Sauber currently has with Ferrari is still open to speculation. The below report seems to suggest that Williams could use Beemer engines for another year.

Williams close to signing engine deal
Fri Jul 29, 2005 1:21 PM BST

BUDAPEST, July 29 (Reuters) - The Williams Formula One team say they are close to signing an engine deal for 2006, with current partners BMW still an option.

"We will be signing one contract in the next fortnight (two weeks) at the very most," team boss Frank Williams told reporters at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Friday.

Media reports have suggested that the former champions are set to switch to privately-owned Cosworth for 2006 and then Toyota the following year.

BMW are buying Swiss-based Sauber to enter their own team from next season after working with Williams since 2000.

Asked whether a complete divorce from BMW was inevitable after the current season, Williams said: "We're not even certain of that, they've asked us to stay for one more year."

He would not comment on Cosworth.

Gedanken SG

Fair enough, iveco - it's just that the comments on the other thread are more current.

SFW is likely to comment that the BMW contract option is open until the ink dries on the contract with another engine supplier. Given Mario Thiessen's attitude of late, it's unlikely that SFW's looking at them in anything resembling a favourable light right now. In any case, BMW's offer for '06 looks to be a way of minimising their liabilities for not continuing until '09 like they originally said they would.

In any case, BMW have not really done them much good - despite having been the most powerful engine on the grid, they never quite sorted out the launch control over the past few years, and that's cost Williams dearly. Considering how Williams fared during the Honda and Renault days, it appears that the problem's been more with BMW than with Williams.

Gedanken SG

Hey, I'm not the kinda guy who says I told you so, but ... Mr. Green

With BMW announcing some time ago that they will be taking over the running of the Sauber Petronas team at the end of the year and Williams - Cosworth announcing a joint collaboration yesterday for the 2006 season, the six-year BMW Williams relationship is now coming to an end.

Williams moved from Supertec power to BMW in 2000 with Ralf Schumacher recording the first race win for the BMW Williams team at Imola in 2001 with three more victories coming the teams way in the same season. 2002 saw just one win with another four following in 2003. Last year Juan Pablo Montoya recorded a win for the team at the season finale in Brazil. With no wins this year, the partnership has yielded ten wins in total.

"We would like to wish WilliamsF1 every success with its new partner," Reuters report BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen as saying. "But before that, a strong finale to the current season is our common goal. We are pleased that Frank Williams has found a good solution for his team."

Williams had an option to run V8 BMW power in 2006 but as the Guardian newspaper reports, this was never really an option for Frank Williams and Patrick Head. There was theoretically a chance that the team could have continued using BMW engines as a customer next year, but after BMW ditched us Frank and Patrick would have pushed the bloody cars rather than use their engines, the Guardian report a Williams insider as saying. That's why we're with Cosworth."