JUNE 9, 2005

Williams and BMW

This week Williams has launched a counter-attack against BMW suggestions that the team has not been performing and one has to ask about the timing of the move, given that BMW's Mario Theissen has already presented his plans to the board and the board members are now considering a decision which should be made before the end of the month. The comments made my Williams's Frank Williams and Patrick Head make it very clear that they are not going to be happy working with Theissen if BMW does decide against doing its own thing with Sauber. In other words, if BMW decides against Theissen's plan his head will be on the chopping block. It is not the first time such a thing has happened with Jochen Neerpasch leaving back in the early 1980s when it looked like the company would not go into F1 and then Hans-Peter Flohr departing when the board refused to sanction a plan to take BMW back to F1 in the early 1990s.

The big question at the moment is whether of not Theissen will win the vote and what Williams will do if the decision goes against them. Logic would seem to suggest that Williams would not have gone on the offensive unless they had a fairly secure future and may be in a position to choose between BMW and another engine. It is not clear which engine that might be but the word in the F1 paddock is that the most likely engine is Toyota.

Having said that, there are some who insist that Toyota is still talking to Jordan about an engine supply next year.