BMW sells F1 team to MidEast-backed group
BMW has signed a contract to sell its Formula One BMW Sauber racing team to Qadbak Investments, a Swiss-based group representing Middle Eastern interests, the Munich-based carmaker announced on its F1 website.
The announcement coincided with a statement from the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, motorsport’s governing body, that it intended to make room on the F1 grid from next season for the team, even though it had awarded its berth to a new entrant.
The future of the Swiss-based BMW Sauber team has been under a cloud since BMW’s announcement in July that it was quitting the sport at the end of the season, having failed to make an impact this season.
Financial pressures have been weighing heavily on the car manufacturer-backed F1 teams, with Honda having already quit at the beginning of the year.
Qadbak emerged in the summer as the unlikely buyer of Notts County, the oldest professional football club but now playing in League Two, English football’s fourth tier. It bought the football club through a subsidiary, Munto Finance.
BMW named Lionel Fischer, a Swiss national, as Qadbak’s representative in the F1 team set-up.
The deal comes at a time of rapid changes in the ownership of F1 teams and the make-up of the F1 grid. Mercedes, owner of a 40 per cent stake in McLaren, is said to be in discussions about making an investment in Brawn, the team that emerged from the departure of Honda and whose drivers lead this year’s F1 world championship.
F1 insiders also believe Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin group will emerge as the backer of the British-based Manor team, which will make its F1 debut next season.
The BMW Sauber team’s berth was given to Lotus Cars, owned by entrepreneurs in Malaysia working in partnership with the Malaysian government. The team will initially be based in the UK.
The BMW Group, which bought the Sauber F1 team in 2005 and began racing the following year, said in July it was focusing more on its environmental and sustainability strategy.
The global downturn prompted the FIA, motorsport’s governing body, to propose new rules that would have capped team costs but these plans were rejected by F1 teams.
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