BMW entry?

[Josemartinez]

With Audi and Mercedes being BMW's main competitors could we see BMW return to F1? Or is not a good marketing exercise especially if your not winning like Alpine? The FIA and existing teams don't exactly make it easy to get in though.

I'm happy to see Audi and Cadillac join the grid adds more stories to next season.

[Manners79]

Took long enough for the other teams to let one more in… I fear it will be a looooooooong wait to see the grid expand to 24

[Piginapoke]

BMW would likely buy a team if it wanted into F1, but that seems very unlikely given its falling profit and expenses on the new EV cars

[Siao]

More chance of them buying someone out, rather than joining I'd think.

Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Cadillac (full works by 2029). 4 full work teams on the grid.

[TheDeuce]

Piginapoke said:

BMW would likely buy a team if it wanted into F1, but that seems very unlikely given its falling profit and expenses on the new EV cars

An F1 team wouldn't cost them a penny in real terms, it would simply be a self sustaining entity that provided free marketing. The initial capex would be safe as the team as an asset would remain on their balance sheet - and would only be expected to rise in value.

As a company they have to accept falling profits as they transition to EV (doing better at that than their German rivals so far), but chiefly as their real rivals now come from the East, which is reshaping the entire car industry in terms of profit expectations moving forward.

Best guess is that you're right, if they wanted in they would have made a play, they would have battled with Audi for the grid spot. But for whatever reason, they simply aren't interested.

[bergclimber34]

They seem quite happy in GT3, DTM, WEC, Imsa, and I hope it stays that way, F1 has a nasty habit of sucking resource from every discipline a company might be doing a la Audi in F1.

[Zetec-S]

Not really sure they'd get any benefit out of it? They've already got a long history of making "sporty" cars and that's well recognised by the public.

Mercedes was different - returning as a works team was a smart move, they turned the brand into something more sporty/youthful rather than the stuffy old man cars of years gone by. Hence the abundance of AMG-Line diesel A-Classes which followed...

[TheDeuce]

Zetec-S said:

Not really sure they'd get any benefit out of it? They've already got a long history of making "sporty" cars and that's well recognised by the public.

Mercedes was different - returning as a works team was a smart move, they turned the brand into something more sporty/youthful rather than the stuffy old man cars of years gone by. Hence the abundance of AMG-Line diesel A-Classes which followed...

I think you might be onto something with regard to the reputation BMW already have for sporty cars. Not only do they not need to shout about it via F1, but also in a way the message is probably best delivered by keeping the quality and performance of their cars impressive and letting the product do the talking, rather than attaching themselves to F1 which has become a bit of a circus - it's just not on tone for what BMW are these days.

Additionally, despite increased electrification, F1 may well not be 'electric enough' for certain manufacturers plans moving forward. BMW are track testing M3's with hub motors, a dedicated motor in the hub of each wheel - which I can imagine one day is the sort of thing that F1 will adopt, but no time remotely soon. If BMW wants to push the boundaries of EV performance and invest heavily in marketing the benefits of pure electric, they're not going to be well served by a sport that is supposed to be cutting edge, but for various reasons can't electrify beyond a certain point.

This is if course the reason F1 is pushing to electrify as fast as possible, to remain as relevant as possible to manufacturer's, but in some cases it won't go far enough to be compatible.