Former BMW F1 Boss Mario Theissen denies BMW’s F1 comeback

Former BMW F1 Boss Mario Theissen quickly denied that BMW is returning to Formula 1. He said that BMW will continue to focus its efforts in other areas of motorsport instead. Theissen is currently the head of BMW Motorsport. BMW will continue to focus its efforts in the GT and WTCC programs. With the historical win this year at Nurburgring, a larger budget is expected to be allocated to GT cars.

In an interview about the proposed changes to F1’s engine rules, Theissen said: “Don’t expect that. When we pulled out, this was a decision for many years, because it takes many years to put something together like this. And the main reason was that we wanted to focus on production car racing instead of formula car racing. This is certainly a decision for many years. We are just ramping up our production car programme around the M3 GT2 during the American Le Mans Series and the European 24-hour races, and we are about to decide on a future programme in DTM.”

Theissen also commented on the switch in engine formula: “I can only really comment on the engine, because I don’t know the other proposals, but, from a manufacturers’ perspective, it is the right move to change to innovative technologies that are relevant to road cars. If we look at the road car side, we have a conversion right now from high-revving naturally-aspirated engines towards turbo engines with direct injection. So it perfectly makes sense to adapt this concept and maybe combine it with other innovative elements like KERS or something further developed, in order to keep F1 on the edge and probably to be able to be an innovator again for future road car technology.

On the new set of regulation, Theissen said: “I think, current engines are too expensive, so if there is a new set of regulations, it would be a good move to frame the regulations so that design-wise the engine costs will be lower. Of course, F1 has to be the pinnacle of racing and technology has to be on the highest level there, but especially on the engine side, we can do something to get it more affordable.”

Source: 422.com via crash.net