Theissen: Williams and BMW Incompatible
BMW sporting director Mario Theissen believes cultural differences are the reason for his company's decision to separate from Williams and buy into the Sauber team instead
With Williams expected to announce they have signed an engine deal with Cosworth for 2006, Theissen revealed on Thursday that the Munich-based carmaker has never considered buying into the Williams team and suggested the two companies were never able to work harmoniously together.
Asked if BMW had considered buying a stake at Williams, Thiessen said: "Not really, no. If you see that full integration doesn't work because of the different culture of the two partners, [then a buyout] doesn't make sense.
"You cannot force it - if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. If you buy it, it will be a very painful process to turn the company around, so if the company doesn't fit into what you have, you'd better start from scratch."
BMW has been supplying engines to Williams since 2000, but the partnership has failed to live up to initial expectations.
Although the German carmaker and the British squad have won ten Grands Prix together, they failed to win a World Championship together - only once coming close, in 2003. Moreover, team boss Frank Williams admitted recently that the co-operation has not been as easy as with Honda or Renault beforehand.
BMW has finally decided to pull the plug on the Williams partnership, and buy the Sauber team instead.
"The problem was that we didn't really come to the full integration of both partners, and finally that was the recognition that told us we would not win the Championship in this setup, with this co-operation," Theissen said at a media dinner in Budapest, ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
"That was the reason to shift strategy."
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