BMW staying committed to F1 for now

After the news of the immediate withdrawal of Honda from the pinnacle of motorsport, several other manufacturers are making statements on the subject. Just like Toyota yesterday, BMW states that it is still fully committed to Formula One. Dr. Klaus Draeger, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Development

"It is with regret that we learnt of Honda’s decision. It has no bearing on BMW’s involvement in Formula One.

"Our F1 involvement is an integral part of the company strategy. There is no better platform than Formula One for demonstrating our brand values. BMW, moreover, makes targeted use of the Formula One project as a technology accelerator for series production.

"With the BMW Sauber F1 Team, we have from the start focused on high efficiency and have achieved our successes with a compact and powerful team. The cost-benefit ratio is commensurately positive. The measures now proposed by FOTA for significant cost cuts starting as early as season 2009 are a further important contribution."