BMW has cited a lack of road relevance for ruling out a return to Formula 1 anytime soon.
The German manufacturer enjoyed success as an engine supplier with Williams in the early 2000s before buying Sauber to launch their own works team in 2006.
2008 proved to be their best year on the grid, finishing third in the Constructors’ standings and scoring a 1-2 finish with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld in Canada.
At the end of 2009, however, BMW sold the team back to Peter Sauber and pulled out of F1 altogether to focus on touring car series like the DTM.
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Their most recent motorsport foray was into Formula E at the start of Season 5 in partnership with Andretti Autosport.
And despite F1 making big changes for 2021, partly in the hope of attracting new manufacturers, the company still remain uninterested because of the current engine formula.
“The V6 turbo hybrid has nothing to do with what we do in [road] car production,” BMW racing boss Jens Marquardt told AutoBild.
“From an engineering perspective, I say hats off to what they do in Formula 1, but the technology has no relevance to the road.”
Those comments are a hammer blow to F1 bosses, who also saw Porsche chose Formula E over returning to the ‘pinnacle of motorsport’.
But it’s true in a time when every major carmaker is going electric, the hybrid does almost seem to be going out of fashion.
And with F1 not expecting to change their engine regulations until 2025, they will be desperate to keep Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault onboard.