Munich, 22nd June 2005. BMW is striking out on a new path in Formula One. After acquiring a majority shareholding in the Swiss Sauber team, a BMW managed team will be contesting the Formula One World Championship as early as 2006. This was decided by the BMW Board of Management on Tuesday. It means that, for the first time in company history, BMW will be competing independently in Formula One.

Professor Burkhard Göschel, BMW Board Member for Development and Purchasing: “This decision is a strong, long-term affirmation of BMW’s commitment to Formula One. We anticipate that Formula One will emerge strengthened from the current restructuring phase and that it will continue to represent the top echelon of motor sport for the future as well. For BMW, Formula One is thus the right platform for demonstrating our competence as a car manufacturer

Success in Formula One increasingly depends on the perfect interplay of all factors. That is why we have resolved to extend our involvement beyond our present role of engine partner. With a team managed by BMW we will, as of next year, take on responsibility for the entire package, which will include the key factors of the chassis, tires and drivers

Naturally this decision impacts on our partnership with WilliamsF1. We want to discuss the future options together with WilliamsF1 in order to find the right way forward for both sides. We do not expect instant success from the new constellation, but we are convinced that we have chosen the right path for the long term.”

Dr Mario Theissen, BMW Motorsport Director: “The realignment of our Formula One strategy is based on two insights. Firstly, the influence of the engine on the winning potential of the overall package has diminished; the car, tires and drivers play a greater role than they used to. Secondly, from our point of view, an optimal overall package can only be achieved with a fully integrated team and coherent processes throughout

In restructuring we are taking account of these insights. At Sauber we have found a solid foundation for vehicle development and production, along with the requisite know-how and one of the most modern wind tunnels. The results achieved there so far are worthy of respect in the light of the team’s limited budget BMW will not only maintain this foundation but build on it. That applies both to the facilities and to the staff. Additional workplaces will be created at the Sauber headquarters in Hinwil. The new team will be managed as a fully integrated project from two locations, as has long been standard practice at BMW for series production.

We are aware that we face a learning curve, that although you can plan success you can’t buy it off the peg. After showing that BMW is capable of building the best Formula One engine, we are starting out as it were at apprenticeship level on the complex task of tackling the vehicle as a whole. That demands patience and stamina. We possess both, as well as a concrete work program. The technical cooperation has already begun

In the partnership with WilliamsF1 we have celebrated successes together and taken the team forward. Both partners today are stronger than at the outset of our joint venture and are thus equipped for the future. What that future will look like will be decided over the next weeks. Irrespective of that decision, we are concentrating on the current season. We still have quite a few goals for this year and we will apply all our powers and professionalism to implement them together with WilliamsF1.” Presentation at the start of 2006

In parallel with that, based on the Board’s decision, the new structure with managerial and key positions, including the driver line-up, and the name of the new team will be worked out by the takeover date of 1st January 2006. Development of resources are being driven forward with urgency and immediate effect.

The team will present itself to the public at the beginning of 2006. The factory in Hinwil will continue to be operated as a legally independent Swiss company linked to BMW Motorsport.

The expansion of BMW’s Formula One involvement will not impinge on other BMW motor sport projects. In future, BMW will continue its commitment to touring car racing – both in the new World Touring Car Championship (FIA WTCC) and in leading individual events such as 24-hour races. Formula BMW with its four series in Asia, Britain, Germany and North America will also continue. This year it will feature a world final for the first time.

Peter Sauber: “For Sauber, the partnership with BMW is an ideal solution as it supports the two goals which have always been paramount for me: firstly, to offer the team the possibility of improving their sporting performance, and secondly, to safeguard the site at Hinwil and the jobs of today’s 300-strong workforce.

The involvement of six car manufacturers has resulted in significant changes to Formula One in recent years. For the private teams in particular it has become increasingly difficult to secure the kind of solid financing that will also allow for sporting success. For some years I have also been thinking in terms of succession planning – in the light of the very specific demands of Formula One, that is no easy matter.

The partnership with BMW guarantees continuity. For that reason, too, it represents an ideal solution, because I know it will give the workforce a very good outlook. Over more than 35 years, I have guided this company through often stormy seas, which is why it is so important for me to know that it will be in good hands in future as well.” The new partnership is also made possible by Credit Suisse, which over the next three years will successively sell off its shares in Sauber Holding AG to BMW as well.

Credit Suisse took over these shares in 2002 with a view to placing them with suitable investors in due course.

Urs Rohner, Member of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group, comments: “We are looking forward to working with BMW. What you associate with BMW and Sauber are, on the one hand, longstanding experience in motor racing and, on the other, efficiency and dedication. That creates an ideal basis for a successful team.

Credit Suisse, moreover, will be an Official Partner of the team for the next three years.”

Background BMW Motorsport: Generating innovative technology for sporting contests and record attempts has always been part of BMW’s identity. After world records and championship titles with aero-engines and motorcycles, a one-two win in the 1940 Mille Miglia marked one of the first international touring car successes with the BMW 328. In post-war Germany, motorcycling ace Schorsch Meier became a national hero on BMW’s flat-twin Boxers.

Since 1966, BMW has earned 24 FIA-approved titles in touring car racing alone – both European Championship and World Championship titles. The national titles accumulated by BMW drivers are numberless. The winning cars: BMW 1800Ti, 2002Ti, 2002, 3.0 CSL, 320, 635CSi, 528i, M3 and 320i. Up to and including 1992, BMW M3 drivers secured more than 1,500 individual wins and 50 titles. From 1993 to 1998, 29 championship titles were won around the globe with the BMW 320i. In 2001, the FIA once again sanctioned a European title for touring car racing, which was promptly claimed by the BMW 320i. In 2003, BMW won the Manufacturers’ title in the FIA European Touring Car Championship (ETCC) and successfully defended it in 2004 as well as winning the Drivers’ title. In 2005, BMW is competing in the FIA Touring Car World Championship (FIA WTCC) with the 320i.

With a total of 18 overall wins, BMW is by far the most successful manufacturer in the 24-hour races on the Nürburgring. Beyond that, BMW has won the 24 Hours of Spa 21 times. In 1999 it claimed overall victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours with the BMW V12 LMR.

Building on ten years’ experience of junior talent promotion, BMW Motorsport took an ultra-modern vehicle to the grid for the 2002 season – the Formula BMW. In conjunction with a unique Education and Coaching Program, the Formula BMW championships in Asia, Britain, Germany and North America have established themselves as the international benchmark.

In Formula 2, a BMW four-cylinder engine was the yardstick during the period from 1973 to 1982, taking six drivers to a European Championship title. In 1980, BMW announced its first Formula One involvement. Paul Rosche took a production four cylinder engine block and turned it into a 16-valve turbo unit reduced to 1.5 liters, which by the end of its career had an output of around 1,400 bhp. On 23rd January 1982, Nelson Piquet lined up on the grid at Kyalami, South Africa, in a Brabham BMW, and in June the Brazilian took his first GP victory in Montreal. In 1983 he became World Champion. The ninth and final BMW turbo victory was claimed in Mexico in 1986 by Gerhard Berger in a Benetton BMW. At the end of 1987, BMW halted its F1 engine production. New regulations had come into force and the era of sheer turbo power was over.

In 1997 BMW announced it would return to Formula One in 2000 – with a three-liter normally aspirated V10 engine and with WilliamsF1 as its partner. It turned out a textbook comeback: third in the World Championship in the debut season, second in 2002, and a title contender right up to the final in 2003. 2004 proved a lean year, with no victory forthcoming until the final race.

The BMW Formula One engines were designed and built in Munich from the outset and, including BMW’s own engine management system and foundry, and in close alliance with the BMW Research and Innovation Centre. BMW’s Formula One division currently employs 300 staff. BMW Motorsport has a workforce of 350.

Sauber Motorsport AG: Peter Sauber founded PP Sauber AG, later renamed Sauber Motorsport AG, in Hinwil in 1970. In the early years, the qualified electrical fitter built competition sports cars for entry in the national car championship. The Swiss racing team first attracted international attention in 1976 when Herbert Müller gained overall victory in the European Interseries driving a Sauber BMW C5.

In the mid-1980s, Sauber became the Mercedes-Benz works team for the World Sports Car Championship. The climax of this partnership was a one-two win in Le Mans in 1989 and two successive titles in the World Sports Car Championship (1989, 1990).

In 1993 Sauber moved up to Formula One and managed to gain two world championship points in the very first race, the South African GP in Kyalami. SAUBER PETRONAS emerged as one of the most successful private teams, claiming a total of six podium places. In 2001 the Swiss team came fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.

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