BMW Never Considered Williams Buyout
BMW motorsport director Mario Theissen has claimed that his company never seriously considered purchasing current engine partner Williams before giving the green light to their buyout of the Sauber team
Speaking at a press conference in Munich on Wednesday when BMW confirmed its future plans in Formula One, Theissen explained that the German car manufacturer's plans to own their own team only came about after talks with Sauber had begun.
"The majority share in Williams has never been in the offing and we have never discussed it," said Theissen. "At the beginning of this year we began talking to Sauber and our first intention was to deliver engines.
"The step we take now makes sense only if it is a perfect match, which means we can weld two teams together that they form a unified team in the future. This came about through our talks with Sauber and the result is the decision we announced today."
Theissen explained that the motivation for the Sauber buyout was because BMW felt that its impact in making a Championship-winning F1 team would be better served if it had control over the entire car rather than just the engine and transmission.
"The impact of engine on the overall package, it is smaller than it was in the past, and the cars, drivers and tyres play a bigger role than usual," explained Theissen. "So an optimum overall package of success can only be achieved with a fully-integrated team and processes throughout."
Although BMW's decision to purchase Sauber has been fuelled by the lack of success the company has enjoyed with Williams, Theissen explained that he did not believe the company's partnership with the team had been a failure.
"If you talk about the co-operation with Williams, if you look at the entire span of the times, then I am very happy and very satisfied with a very good start," he said. "I can say Williams helped us a lot in the beginning to speed up things and learn everything there is to know about F1."
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