F1 News--BMW buys Sauber

[bigC]

i wonder what that means for Williams, ie, how long BMW still supply them with engines, what kind of support will they give Williams, etc. and, is this good news for JV, or bad, because methinks BMW will demand results and JV hasn't really delivered with Sauber (with an underpowered car with aerodynamic issues). also, BMW may want a German driver on the team, Schumacher maybe, or perhaps Heidfeld: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/news_story.asp?id=128582

[Shamrock]

hmm, does this mean that they must start using BMW engines immediately?

[NAZCA M12]

Well, first of all the relationship between BMW and Williams is strained, with one blaming the other for their poor results. Hey i should blame Webber :D Some heavy words have been exchanged between the two parties and it depends on how they're going to treat those insults. If they take it it like childs, then its already over. If they look at their interests, they should shallow their pride and continue. BMW has accused Williams of not making competitive chassis anymore, and Williams accused them back of... accusing them all the time, in public.

The facts show that Williams after 1997 failed to make a competitive chassis. In fact, they usually ended up (ironic isn't it?) the opposite of Sauber: They would produce a mediocre chassis and through continuous evolution would make it competitive. The only exception was, to a degree 2003 but when they ended up the year with the fastest (and prettiest) car, they backed that up with an ugly mother****er like the FW26 and detonated their 2004 season. If you believe Sam Michael, that failed design lost them two years in fact, so they're still making up ground for that damage alone. About the drivers, i will only comment that no sane team manager lets both his drivers contracts expire in the same period. Logic says that if they're happy with at least one of them, they keep him for continuity and sing a new one as well.

Williams also said that with Honda and Cosworth had more success which is very true. Shame he forgot he had Adrian Newey too (arguably the best designer in the past two decades and a worthy successor to John Barnard), and shame he forgot what of sort of drivers used to drive for him (Piquet, Mansell, Patrese), guys with a lot of experience or even championships behind them, not newbies. He totally forgot 2000 for example when he wasted one car for the noob Jenson Button. He forgot many things but anyway, then Patrick Head, always in fighting mood opened his mouth and personally attacked Mario Theissen. After Munich learned of all that, i don't know what they told them, but hours later FW started throwing buckets of water to save the situation. He said that of course he wished to continue their collaboration, even went as far as saying that Head's opinion was not in accordance to his nor the teams opinion of the matter in general. Unheard of, but they probably agreed between them to publicly condemn Head and maybe reverse the negative climate. Too late me thinks, plus now with those comments they've completely ****ed up their season just at a time the team was on the up. Idiots :mad:

Obviously if BMW feel their engines are wasted by Williams, Williams feel the same for his chassis too however, there is a chance he could end up showing us how good these chassis are with either Cosworth or Honda again though he'll have to pay for them. Only trouble is, Honda recently told him that if he gets a deal with them, he'll have to make do with second rate engines as the latest spec will go to BAR (i hope he enjoyed that).

If the agreement with BMW breaks (which was some time ago said to be extended to 2009), he will be with Cosworth. And i'd like to see that then, so that he can prove us all wrong and expose BMW by showing how great the Williams chassis was all this time. On the other hand BMW have stated that they will be happy to continue supplying them with engines and as long as the engines have their badge on them, they will be the same specification, be it for Williams or Sauber. At the end of the month we will know what the BMW council will decide about supplying Williams. Like i said it's a matter of ego because you don't need to be a nuclear scientist to predict that it will take at least 2 years to make that small team a serious contender. Whether we like it or not, Sauber is a "b" class team, Williams is a bottom "a" class team but an "a" class nevertheless. If the heated words recently exchanged are to play an important role in the council, 2005 is their last season together. If not, it would be in their best interests not to even touch that contract.

Regarding drivers, one thing is for sure: Massa is finished. If anyone has seen with Massa a similar pattern to Sato (going whenever a specific engine goes), he's correct. He is managed by Todt's son so he will either get Coulthard's seat in RBR as Ferrari is pushing atm, or at worst return as a test driver to Ferrari. Alternatively he could be a tester for RBR themselves but it would be his last option. Which brings us to Button returning to Williams, Heidfeld returning to Sauber and i'd like to see Villeneuve next to him. If common sense prevails and he screws Massa from now on, they should keep him for continuity, plus he is a valuable test driver which should help improve the car (not the case in the current cash-strapped team). I hope he stays, and btw although i hate ******* Sauber, they used to have BMW engines many years ago (C5 i think) so in a way its kind of a full circle for them. Here's a Sauber-BMW for good measure: