The race to make the grid in Bahrain
Dieter Rencken compares the fortunes of BMW Sauber and Renault, who have seemingly overcome the worst of their troubles, and Campos, US F1 and Stefan GP, who each have their biggest challenge still ahead of them
Oh, the ironies of Formula 1 as it faces a first full season under the new Concorde Agreement - the negotiations for which almost ripped the sport in two: on one hand there are two teams sporting motor manufacturer names (BMW and Renault) without those companies having full control over management or performance, while on the other we have a team with an entry but allegedly no funding or hardware, and another is fully kitted out, yet has no entry.
Could it get any messier? Well, yes...
On Sunday, the BMW Sauber F1 team launched its new challenger, followed almost immediately by the Renault F1 team. All well and good, except that BMW is out of F1 after mysteriously withdrawing while on the verge of signing Concorde (possibly that is what you get when your group marketing honcho is an ex-number cruncher) and returning the team to its founder, Peter Sauber. But only after committing a serious lapse in due diligence when said honcho failed to see through Russell King's QADBAK mirage.
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