JUNE 20, 2001

Will BMW supply a second team?

WITH the current vogue amongst engine manufacturers being to supply more than team - in an effort to help balance the books and to gain a little more political power - it seems that BMW may now be considering expanding their engine supply to two teams next season. As the smaller teams quibble over Ferraris, Renaults, Fords and Asiatechs, we hear that talks are going on which will see BMW expanding its activities. This will probably mean supply older engines, but these will be very competitive next year as the BMW is clearly the best engine at the moment. Such a supply will no doubt cost a great deal of money (around $25m) but it will help any one of the smaller teams to leap up the grid, so long as they have a decent chassis.

The current musical chairs going on could result in Asiatech being left without any teams to supply with their engines and the only way forward would for the organization to buy into a team - as is the long-term plan. The problem is that there are not many opportunities at the moment: at least not at a sensible price...