This is why BMW is no longer interested in F1

Does BMW want to take on Audi and GM?

In addition to Lamborghini, Alpine and Aston Martin, BMW will also be a newcomer in the Hypercar class of Le Mans in 2024. With the BMW M Hybrid V8, Bimmer hopes to score high during the 24-hour race. But what lies ahead in motorsport for the German car brand? Could BMW perhaps want to return to F1?

BMW's F1 history dates back to the 1950s. The brand supplies some cars here and there that often met the F2 rules, but were allowed to compete in the main class. That's how it was then. Later BMW built a four-cylinder turbo engine for Brabham. With this, Nelson Piquet won the drivers' championship in 1983. Later, BMW returned to supply Williams with engines.

It has now been fourteen years since BMW built F1 engines. Could the new rules for 2026 and the motorsport aspirations at Le Mans not ensure a comeback in F1? BMW CEO Frank Weber doesn't think so. Automobilwoche asks him whether interest in F1 can grow again after a successful comeback in Le Mans.

BMW does not want to return to F1

'My answer to that is no. F1 is busy reinventing itself, but that is not a problem for us. In Le Mans we test the limits of the powertrains for our M cars, which we also use in series production," says the boss of BMW's development department. In any case, Weber does not foresee many motorsport participations.

“Overall, the importance of motorsport for the technological capabilities of individual areas has decreased significantly,” says Weber. By this, the BMW boss refers to innovations that are directly adopted from motorsport in road cars. BMW wants at least half of its sales to be EVs by 2030. The other half should consist of PHEVs and hydrogen cars. Maybe BMW is interested in a hydrogen racing series?

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