Williams (2000–2005) After a ten-year absence from
Formula One, BMW began evaluating a return to the sport in the late 1990s. In , the marque signed a contract to supply the
Williams team with engines. Williams had won the , , and Drivers' Championships, and the Constructors' Championships in all of these years as well as , in a successful partnership with
Renault, but the French company withdrew from the sport at the end of , leaving team owner
Frank Williams and Technical Director
Patrick Head in need of a new engine partnership to remain competitive. As BMW spent 18 months building and testing a normally aspirated, three-litre
V10 engine to comply with technical regulations that had changed significantly since the 1980s, the team used old Renault engines rebadged as first
Mecachrome and then
Supertec. BMW's E41 engine was ready to compete in the
2000 season, fitted in the
FW22 and driven by
Ralf Schumacher and
Jenson Button. Schumacher scored a podium finish in the engine's first race, and added two more during the course of the season. A series of consistent points-scoring finishes meant that Williams finished a competitive third in the Constructors' Championship, some distance behind the dominant
Ferrari and McLaren teams, but ahead of engine manufacturers with more recent experience. collaboration was , but still resulted in neither championship being won. After the relatively conservative E41, BMW designed the more aggressive P80 engine for , a basic type number that was maintained for the remainder of the company's involvement in Formula One. The engine immediately proved to have a significant power improvement, and propelled Schumacher and new teammate
Juan Pablo Montoya into contention for race victories. In all, the two drivers scored four race wins, but lost other opportunities through unreliability and racing incidents. The
FW23 chassis also lacked the ultimate downforce to compete with the Ferrari and McLaren drivers at every circuit, although it was the class of the field at "power circuits" such as
Hockenheim and
Monza. For , the reliability and consistency of the
FW24 chassis was much improved, but Ferrari made a more significant step forward with its own
F2002 chassis and dominated both championships. The team scored twelve more points than in the previous year and beat McLaren to second place in the Constructors' Championship, but only won a single race with Schumacher at the
Malaysian Grand Prix. Moreover, Montoya was unable to win a single race, despite taking seven pole positions. The Williams team was more competitive in , as both drivers won on two occasions and Montoya remained in contention for the Drivers' Championship until the penultimate race of the season. However, he ultimately fell short, as did the team in the Constructors' Championship, as although the
FW25 was often the car to beat in the second half of the season, it took too much time to reach this point. For , the team produced the
FW26 chassis, which featured a radical nose section designed by
Antonia Terzi. This design proved ineffective, however, in another year of Ferrari dominance, and Williams slipped to fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with Montoya's victory in the
Brazilian Grand Prix its sole win in the 2004 season. Before this result, the team had suffered the embarrassment of a double disqualification from the
Canadian Grand Prix due to brake duct irregularities, and then Schumacher sustaining spinal injuries as a result of a high-speed crash at the
United States Grand Prix, which caused him to miss six races until he recovered. Both drivers left the team at the end of the season. The final year of BMW's association with Williams, , saw the team's decline in competitiveness continue, dropping to fifth in the Constructors' Championship. None of the team's three drivers—
Mark Webber,
Nick Heidfeld and
Antônio Pizzonia—were able to win a race; the team's best result was a double podium finish at the
Monaco Grand Prix. By this time, the team's relationship with its engine supplier had deteriorated, with BMW believing that its engines were capable of winning championships but were being let down by the Williams chassis they were powering. BMW offered to buy the team outright in the hope of gaining overall control of its Formula One endeavours, but Frank Williams refused; as a result, BMW chose to buy the rival
Sauber team instead for , and end its deal with Williams.
BMW Sauber (2006–2009) BMW bought
Swiss team
Sauber in June 2005 to form the
BMW Sauber F1 Team. The takeover came after BMW's relationship with Williams had deteriorated in the previous months, the partnership ending at the end of the season. The team, operated under a
German racing licence, was based at Sauber's headquarters in
Hinwil,
Switzerland and BMW's headquarters in
Munich,
Germany. The team scored two podium finishes and came fifth in
2006, its first season in Formula One. This was followed by a second place in
2007 after the McLaren team had been excluded from the championship.
Robert Kubica took the team's only Grand Prix victory at the
2008 Canadian Grand Prix. Following a poor season, BMW withdrew from Formula One and sold the team back to founder
Peter Sauber.
2006 For the
2006 season, BMW Sauber signed
Nick Heidfeld from
Williams to be the lead driver, while World Champion
Jacques Villeneuve had his existing two-year contract with Sauber honoured.
Robert Kubica was signed as the team's
third driver. The team continued to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing, while BMW's headquarters in Munich was responsible for building the new 2.4-litre P86
V8 engine, revised technical regulations forcing a change from the 3-litre
V10 formula. This replaced the
Petronas-badged Ferrari engines which the team had used since 1997. The Sauber team's existing major sponsors, Petronas and
Credit Suisse, renewed their contracts with BMW. The team also announced a technical partnership with technology company
Intel. The team's new livery, which was maintained throughout its tenure in Formula One, consisted of the traditional BMW blue and white with a hint of red. took the team's first podium finish at the
2006 Hungarian Grand Prix. Villeneuve scored the team's first points with a seventh-place finish at the
Malaysian Grand Prix, after Heidfeld retired from fifth with an engine failure late in the race. Over the first two-thirds of the season the drivers picked up points with a succession of seventh and eighth-place finishes, plus a fourth-place finish for Heidfeld at the
Australian Grand Prix. The team ran a radical "twin towers" aero enhancement on the front of the car for the
French Grand Prix, which was meant to improve the flow of air over the top of the chassis. The parts were promptly banned by the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as they were adjudged to impede the drivers' vision and thus compromise safety. Heidfeld scored the team's first podium finish at the
Hungarian Grand Prix from tenth on the grid. This race also saw the début of
Robert Kubica, who replaced Villeneuve after the latter had crashed heavily at the preceding
German Grand Prix. Kubica had a decent performance and finished seventh, only to later be disqualified after his car was found to be underweight. The official reason for Villeneuve's absence was that he was recovering from his previous accident, but the team later announced that the driver change was permanent. Kubica scored BMW Sauber's second podium finish of the season at the
Italian Grand Prix, after running in third place for most of the race and leading briefly during the first round of pit stops while Heidfeld finished in eighth. The team scored a total of 36 points to finish fifth in the Constructors' Championship, an improvement on Sauber's eighth position with 20 points in .
2007 . On 19 October 2006, BMW announced that
Robert Kubica would partner
Nick Heidfeld for the
2007 Formula One season with
Sebastian Vettel taking the test and reserve driver role.
Timo Glock was later signed as the team's second test driver. The team launched its 2007 car, the
F1.07, on January 16, 2007. The new car showed promising form throughout winter testing, topping the time sheets on occasions. However, team principal
Mario Theissen declared some reliability concerns before the season's opening race in
Australia. Kubica retired from fourth place with a gearbox problem, but Heidfeld took over the position and held it to the end of the race. In the early races of the season, Heidfeld and Kubica scored a series of points finishes and established BMW Sauber as the third-fastest team, behind
Ferrari and
McLaren. Theissen also made the point that the performance gap between BMW Sauber and the two top teams was less than the gap between BMW Sauber and the teams behind it. The
Canadian Grand Prix brought mixed fortunes for the team. While Heidfeld scored BMW Sauber's best result thus far with a second-place finish, Kubica suffered a huge crash that resulted in a long safety car period. The media was initially told Kubica had broken his leg, but it later proved that he had escaped with only a sprained ankle and concussion. Vettel took his place in the
United States Grand Prix, finishing in eighth place and therefore becoming the youngest driver to score a Formula One World Championship point. Later in the season, Vettel moved teams to take a race seat at the
Toro Rosso team. Kubica returned to racing action at the
French Grand Prix and proved his recovery by finishing in fourth position. Over the remainder of the season, he and Heidfeld continued their form to score a total of 101 points, which secured the team second in the Constructors' Championship after McLaren's disqualification. Heidfeld scored another podium finish at the
Hungarian Grand Prix and scored 61 points to Kubica's 39, while Vettel's sole appearance produced an additional point.
2008 saw
Robert Kubica win his and BMW Sauber's first race. On August 21, 2007, BMW confirmed its driver line-up of
Heidfeld and
Kubica for the season. Their 2008 car, the
F1.08 was officially launched in
Munich at BMW Welt on January 14, 2008. It made its track debut at Valencia the next day, with Robert Kubica driving. Team principal
Mario Theissen set the target of the team's first win. BMW Sauber started the season well with Kubica narrowly missing out on pole after a mistake in his main qualifying lap in
Melbourne. He later retired after being hit by
Kazuki Nakajima but Heidfeld finished second. Kubica took second in
Malaysia, with Heidfeld in 6th setting the fastest lap of the race. The team's points total of 11 was their largest score up to that time. In
Bahrain, Kubica scored his and the team's first-ever pole position, beating
Felipe Massa by just under three-hundredths of a second. The team went on to finish 3rd and 4th in the race, equalling their highest round points total and promoting them to first place in the constructors' championship for the first time. The team also attained a second-place finish in the
Monaco Grand Prix with
Robert Kubica, beating both Ferraris and only trailing the
McLaren of
Lewis Hamilton by three seconds. BMW Sauber's first race victory came in the
2008 Canadian Grand Prix, the team achieving a one-two finish with Robert Kubica's first race win and Nick Heidfeld taking second place. The victory came after Lewis Hamilton collided with Kimi Räikkönen in the pitlane, ending the race for both drivers. Kubica was on a different refueling strategy from Heidfeld, who also briefly led the race before securing the one-two finish for BMW Sauber in a comfortable fashion. After the team's breakthrough win, development was switched to the 2009 season where new regulations come into play. This greatly annoyed Kubica, (who was leading the championship after the Canadian Grand Prix), as he felt they could have had a realistic chance of taking at least one title. The lack of development was reflected with a drop of form throughout the second half of the season, causing BMW to be outpaced by Renault, Toyota, and even Toro Rosso (who started the season as one of the slowest teams) by the end of the season. Despite this, Kubica remained with an outside chance of taking the drivers championship until the Chinese Grand Prix, the 17th round out of 18. In October the team confirmed that they would stick with
Robert Kubica and
Nick Heidfeld as their drivers for the Season.
2009 chassis contributed to BMW's withdrawal from Formula One at the end of the season. Although BMW Sauber targeted the season as the year they would challenge for the title, their start to the season was a disappointment. Kubica was running in 3rd place in the
opening round when he collided with Vettel while battling for 2nd place and was forced to retire. Heidfeld then secured the team's first podium of the year in
Malaysia, but after 6 races BMW Sauber had collected a mere 6 points, and occupied 8th place in the Constructors' Championship out of 10 teams. A raft of upgrades was set for
Turkey, including an improved
regenerative braking system (KERS) and a double-deck diffuser. While the new diffuser was implemented, the KERS could not be made to fit the new car and both drivers raced without the device. After the qualifying session for the
British Grand Prix Mario Theissen announced that the team had decided to halt further development KERS; of which BMW had been one of the strongest proponents, and focus instead on improving the car's aerodynamics. This left Ferrari and McLaren as the only remaining users of the KERS system. In the
European Grand Prix at Valencia
Robert Kubica scored the team's first points since the race in Turkey. Following a meeting of the BMW board on July 28, the company held at press conference the following morning in which it confirmed the team's withdrawal from Formula One at the end of 2009. Chairman
Norbert Reithofer described the decision as a strategic one. The
Formula One Teams Association released a statement in response pledging its support to help the team remain in F1. On 15 September 2009, it was announced that BMW Sauber had secured a buyer,
Qadbak Investments Limited which said to represent European and Middle Eastern interests. However
Lotus had been given the 13th and final slot in the 2010 Championship. The team were awarded what was termed a 14th entry, which hinged either on another team dropping out or all the other teams agreeing to allow 28 cars to enter the 2010 Championship. On November 22, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung revealed that Qadbak's attempt to purchase the team had failed as it did not have the necessary funds. Qadbak turned out to be a
shell company with no assets and no investors behind it. On November 27, 2009, it was announced that
Peter Sauber would repurchase the team conditional upon the team receiving a FIA entry for the 2010 season. The FIA subsequently granted Sauber an entry on December 3. The team used
Ferrari engines in . ==Complete Formula One results==