When BMW was in F1...

Germany's big three. Three of the biggest automotive car brands in the world. Mercedes-Benz. Audi. BMW. With Audi's long awaited entry into Formula One in the 2026 season, and with Mercedes having fully owned a team since 2010, this begs the question: where is BMW in all of this? The German manufacturer has a great history winning in various motorsport events such as the Dakar Rally, the Nurburgring 24 Hours and even powered McLaren to their first win at Le Mans in 1995. Why are they not in Formula One?

Putting aside one or two privateer entries in the 50s and 60s, the first real involvement from BMW in Formula One was their engine program that they ran in the 1980s. The company announced in April 1980 that they would develop a new, turbo-charged engine for the sport. The engine was tested in a variety of different racing series, notably finding success in Formula Two. Talks were held with McLaren and Ligier about an engine deal, but eventually the company decided to fully commit and agreed a full exclusive works deal with the Brabham team. The engine was only ready by 1981, and even then the team found that their old Cosworth V8's were 0.7 seconds faster... not a great start. By 1982 the engine was more developed. It was over 15km/h faster than the others in the speed trap but was horribly unreliable. The first BMW-powered victory came at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, where the cooler temperatures helped reliability and Nelson Piquet lead home Riccardo Patrese to record a 1-2 finish. Patrese then took BMW's first fastest lap at Paul Ricard that year while at the Osterreichring Piquet took BMW's first pole position.

BMW focused on reliability over the next few years, as both drivers had retired from 4 races while they were leading comfortably. This worked as in 1983 Piquet won the Drivers' Championship, beating out Alain Prost in his Renault. BMW also expanded their engine program and began providing to ATS in the same year, and then to Arrows from 1984. Piquet took 9 pole positions in 1984, but also retired from 9 races, but still won at Detroit and Canada again. Let's just say the engine was quite prone to explosions throughout the year! In 1985 Brabham slipped further away from the top, with Piquet only winning once at Paul Ricard. Arrows were much improved however, with Thierry Boutsen even getting a podium at Imola. By 1986 both Brabham and Arrows suffered from further regression, with both teams scoring only 3 points combined. However, BMW had began supplying a brand new team: Benetton. They were more successful, taking two pole positions and Gerhard Berger even managed to win the Mexican GP that year. BMW reduced their commitment in 1987 back to just Brabham, and when the team decided not to compete the following year along with the ban on turbo-charged engines, BMW were essentially finished in Formula One...

After 10 years out of the sport, BMW announced their comeback in 1999, entering a full works partnership with the successful Williams team, who had needed a technical partner after Renault's withdrawal in 1997. Williams had been the most successful team of the 1990s, but had suffered from uncompetitive engines in 98 and 99. BMW spent 18 months during this time creating a new V10 engine to comply with the technical regulations. They even paid Williams to make the cars blue and white, and also mandated that one of the drivers had to be German.

The FW22 was a promising bounce-back for Williams after a disasterous 1999 season. Rookie Jenson Button and young German driver Ralf Schumacher combined to take the team to third in the WCC with 36 points, with Schumacher getting 3 podiums at Australia, Belgium and Italy, while Button became the youngest ever points scorer at Interlagos that year. Ralf finished 5th in the WDC with 24 points, while Button finished 8th with 12 points. They were some distance behind the dominant McLarens and Ferraris, but it was a respectable debut for the E41 engine, albeit a bit conservative.

The FW23 brought a new driver lineup, with Button being replaced by another rookie in Juan Pablo Montoya. BMW went aggressive with the new P80 engine design, and this paid off. The promise of 2000 was followed up by the teams first victories since 1997, with Ralf winning at Imola (his first win), Canada and Hockenheim, and Montoya taking his first victory at Monza. Montoya got 3 more podiums that year while Ralf got a further two, taking the team up to 80 points, albeit still third in the WCC. Ralf came 4th in the WDC with 49 points while Montoya finished 6th with 31 points. The car was once again a rocket in a straight line, but horribly unreliable (this would be a BMW-Williams trademark over the years). They had a finishing rate of less than 50%, with Montoya only finishing two of his first ten races!

Both drivers were retained for 2002, and reliability was improved on the FW24, but Ferrari had simply made too big a step forward with the dominant F2002 for anyone to catch them. Williams retained their driver pairing, and Montoya managed to get 7 pole positions throughout the season. Ralf actually took the teams solitary win at Malaysia, and with Montoya following him home meant that Williams took their first 1-2 since 1996. It was still a step forward however, as they finished 2nd in the WCC with 92 points, ahead of McLaren. Ralf got the win in Malaysia and got 5 further podiums, coming 4th in the standings with 42 points, while Montoya got 7 podiums, 50 points and 3rd in the WDC.

Williams went for a radical new design in 2003, and the once again retained driver lineup of Montoya and Schumacher had title ambitions. Montoya was just 3 points off the lead heading into the last two races of the season, but ultimately fell away. The FW25 had taken too long to become competitive, only scoring one podium in the first 6 races through Montoya at Australia. He took two wins at Monaco and Hockenheim, and scored 6 further podiums throughout the year. This was a very impressive year from the Colombian, who finished third in the WDC with 82 points, but he had been in the title hunt for nearly the whole year. Ralf had a tougher season, taking two wins at the Nurburgring and Magny-Cours with a podium at Canada but only finished 5th with 58 points. Still, this was another big step forward for Williams, as they once again finished 2nd in the WCC with 144 points, but were only 15 away from the title. (Sidenote but 2003 was really such a good season!)

Williams decided to go for something radical with the FW26 to beat Ferrari - a new revolutionary aero package best identified by what was described as a walrus nose. The driver lineup remained constant, and the car looked quick in preseason testing. However, it proved wildly inconsistent for the drivers and difficult to setup. By Hungary the team had abandoned the walrus nose concept and fitted a more conventional nose on. They were nowhere near Ferrari and fell to 4th in the WCC with 88 points, behind the Renault and BAR teams. Montoya got 2 early season podiums and managed to win the final race of the year in Brazil, finishing 5th in the WDC with 58 points. Ralf endured a terrible season - injuring his spine at Indianapolis and missing 6 races, being replaced by Marc Gene, who scored no points, and Antonio Pizzonia, who got 6 points. Ralf got a podium after his return at Suzuka, but 24 points and 9th in the WDC was a poor return.

It was all change for 2005, as Montoya went to McLaren and Ralf went to Toyota. In came Mark Webber from Jaguar and Nick Heidfeld from Jordan. The team eyed a return to the top with the FW27, but the car remained uncompetitive. Heidfeld got pole at the Nurburgring and managed to get a podium there, along with two more at Malaysia and Monaco, with Webber joining him at Monaco for his solitary podium. Apart from those results it was pretty bad: 5th in the WCC with 66 points, and a first winless season since 2000. Heidfeld got 28 points and 11th in the WDC, but missed the last 5 races due to injuries. He was once again replaced by Pizzonia, who got 2 points in his absence. Webber got 36 points and 10th in the WDC. Tensions began to flare in the team over 2004 and 2005: BMW blamed Williams for not being able to produce a competitive package over a season, and believed their engines were being let down by the chassis, and Williams believed that the unreliable BMW engines were costing them too much points and money. It was agreed at the end of the 2005 season to dissolve the partnership. BMW tried to outright buy Williams, but after Frank Williams refused, they turned their sights elsewhere...

BMW bought the Swiss team Sauber in June 2005 to form the BMW Sauber F1 Team. The team operated with a German license out of the Sauber base in Switzerland. This was it - BMW finally owned their own team now. No more excuses! They signed Nick Heidfeld from Williams and honoured the existing contract Jacques Villeneuve had with the team. The engine formula for 2006 had changed, with the F1.06 sporting a new V8 engine. Sauber had struggled for competitiveness over the last few years, and the team expected a transitional season. They were pleasantly surprised that they were able to regularly compete for points throughout the year, with Heidfeld taking the team's first podium at Hungary. BMW also delivered on their promise to bring an upgrade to every race. Villeneuve was eventually replaced midseason by test driver Robert Kubica, who took his first F1 podium and points with third at Monza. The team scored 36 points and finished P5 in the WCC. Heidfeld came 9th in the WDC with 23 points, Kubica came 16th with 6 points and Villeneuve came 15th with 7 points. All in all a very successful transitional year, and the project looked extremely promising!

The F1.07 was the first car fully designed by BMW themselves, and the driver lineup of Kubica and Heidfeld was retained. The car was quick in preseason, and BMW quickly established themselves as the quickest team behind the Ferrari/McLaren duo. Heidfeld especially had a fantastic season, scoring points in all but 3 races and getting two podiums at Canada and Hungary (very impressive considering Ferrari and McLaren scored 46/51 podiums that year!). Kubica didn't manage a podium but was consistent with 11 points finishes. The team also gave a debut to test driver Sebastian Vettel, who scored a point at Indianapolis after Kubica was sidelined with injury. Heidfeld came 5th in the WDC with 61 points, while Kubica came 6th with 39 points. The team initially finished 3rd in the WCC with 110 points, but was promoted to second after McLaren's DSQ. The car was clearly 3rd fastest all season long, and progress was looking good for 2008...

The goal in 2008 was simple: win the first race for BMW Sauber. Both drivers were retained, and the start to the season was incredibly successful with the F1.08. Heidfeld took a podium at the opener in Australia, with Kubica getting one at Malaysia. Kubica then took the team's first pole position in Bahrain, and brought the car home in 3rd place. Another podium then followed at Monaco for Kubica, and he was 4th in the WDC, just 6 points off the lead. BMW Sauber were 3rd in the WCC, just a single point behind McLaren. Then came Canada. Kubica qualified on the front row and after an incident filled race, Kubica led Heidfeld home to take his first career win, and BMW Sauber's first win in Formula One. And a 1-2 at that! Kubica led the championship and BMW were just 3 points off leading the WCC from Ferrari. A title challenge looked imminent. However, according to the team, they had achieved their goal for the season, and focused on development for the new regulations in 2009. This greatly annoyed Kubica, who felt BMW could have at least won one of the titles that year. Performance fell and while Heidfeld got further podiums in Britain and Belgium, and Kubica in Valencia, Monza and Fuji, ultimately it wasn't enough. They finished 3rd in the WCC with 135 points. Kubica came 4th in the WDC with 75 points, tying with 3rd placed Raikkonen. Heidfeld came 6th with 60 points. It was a successful season, and there was plenty of hope with the new regs in 2009...

2009 was the year BMW had marked for a title challenge. The company had lobbied extremely hard for the new regulations, particularly with a system called KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), where it was thought BMW would have a massive advantage due to their powerful engine. The F1.09 started reasonably, and Kubica was challenging for the win at Australia before a collision with Vettel (still annoys me!!!), while Heidfeld picked up a (lucky) podium at Malaysia. But the faults were clear to see after just a few races: the car was slow and ugly. It struggled to make it out of Q1 and Q2 most weekends. The KERS system BMW had lobbied for was heavy and useless, and eventually it was taken off the car and abandoned by Silverstone. The team managed to do some decent in-season development, and results picked up in the last 6 rounds of the season. Kubica especially had a fantastic drive to get second in Brazil, but the damage had already been done. Heidfeld came 13th in the WDC with 19 points, while Kubica came 14th with 17. The team finished a lowly 6th in the WCC with 36 points. On July 28 2009, BMW announced they would be pulling out of F1 at the end of the season, calling it a 'strategic decision'. The company was frustrated at their poor performance, the global financial climate, and the lack of technology in the sport relevant to their road car programme.

As of 2025, BMW has shown no interest in returning to F1. In fact, their motorsport boss made comments this year to reiterate that the company is not interested in a F1 return. Honestly? The team was really arrogant. It felt like they had a plan and wouldn't deviate from it, which is why they made the idiotic decision not to develop the 2008 car, and then just gave up after the regulations in 2009 (the ones they lobbied hard for by the way!) tanked their performance and they pulled out. The team clearly had some really talented people working for it, a great driver lineup and plenty of experience from BMW's past flings with Brabham and Williams. Hopefully this serves as a cautionary tale for Audi, and that they won't repeat the mistakes of BMW. It'll be a long time before we see BMW back in F1, if at all (I highly doubt it!).