BMW F1 withdrawal

STEVE Osborne, head of fleet management, Lloyds TSB Autolease writes: The news that Michael Schumacher was returning to F1 overshadowed BMW’s move in the opposite direction (although today we learned that we shall not be seeing Schumacher back in a Ferrari because of a neck problem).

But, over time, the manufacturer’s decision will be seen as a genuine watershed moment, which signals that the motor industry at large is now racing to reduce emissions rather than lap times.

We should consider this a positive step forward rather than rueing another ‘victim’ of the recession. BMW is thinking about how it must adapt in order to prosper and is focusing on the appropriate areas of its business.

BMW’s explanation – “Premium will increasingly be defined in terms of sustainability and environmental compatibility” – says it all and points to a company which has really grasped the CO2 nettle and is prepared to forge ahead with its low emissions-based strategy.

For a marque that has protected its residual values as fiercely as its engine technology, this shows that the most important race in today’s world is against carbon, not the clock. And if BMW’s F1 money is reinvested where we think it will be, the prize for business car managers and drivers is a lot less taxation.

Editor’s note: BMW follows Honda out of F1, then. And while you cannot argue with either manufacturer’s reasons, it’s interesting to note that Honda was involved precisely because it speeded up technological development. “It was a key assignment for our engineers,” Harvey Hughes, Honda’s manager of European corporate development told me recently.

“It was used to hot-bed their skills, speeding up the learning process of, for example, regenerative technology.” So while both Honda and BMW have withdrawn to concentrate on their core business – particularly low-emission hybrids (Honda) and furthering low CO2 EfficientDynamics (BMW) – both car makers will be taking away F1 technology that we’ll see in our everyday business cars.