BMW have had a rich history in Formula One, supplying engines to Brabham, Benetton and Williams among others.

First Era: Customer engine success with Brabham, ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier (1982-1988)

After occasional entries by privateers in the 50s and F2 entries in the 60s, BMW finally joined Formula One as an engine supplier to Brabham in 1982. Initially success was very mixed, as there was many troubles with the turbo, to the point where after the German Grand Prix, which Nelson Piquet crashed out of the lead from due to Eliseo Salazar’s lapped car, Piquet phoned Salazar to convey the gratitude of BMW executives because the car was going to blow up at their home race. Piquet did win in Canada but success was limited. Then they sorted out the reliability issues, and Piquet won the world championship, in part due to BMW being more reliable than Renault in their turbocharged engines. In fact, the BMW was the strength of the Brabham, not its chassis or aerodynamics. Piquet would win three Grand Prix in the next two seasons.

Brabham was going into a state of decline, and with Arrows working on a smaller budget, there was a gap for who was going to be the big team. Benetton joined BMW in 1986, with Gerhard Berger taking BMW’s last win in their first spell in F1 at the Mexican Grand Prix. Brabham did score podiums every now and then, and Arrows capitalised on most teams going to naturally aspirated engines due to the ban on turbocharged engines coming up the following year to finish fifth in the constructors. Due to the end of the turbocharged era, BMW left F1.

Second era: Working with Williams, majority stake in Sauber (2000-2009)

Williams, after nearly a decade of using Renault power, chose to move to BMW for 2000 due to Renault leaving F1. 2000 was a step in the right direction for the team, as three podiums came with Ralf Schumacher and a third place finish in the constructors’ to boot. The following two years would be even better as five victories came with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, as well as second in the constructors in 2002. The 2003 car was the closest BMW have came to an F1 title since 1983, as Juan Pablo Montoya fought with Kimi Raikkonen and Michael Schumacher for the drivers’ championship and Williams fighting for the constructors’ with Ferrari, missing out by 11 points for the drivers’ and 14 points for the constructors’. Williams were beginning to decline, so BMW looked elsewhere and decided to buy 80% of the Sauber team.

Sauber were a midfield team, but BMW helped develop them into a frontrunner, scoring consistent podiums in 2007 and 2008. In 2008, they made a decision which they would massively regret: focussing development on 2009. They regretted this because at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix, BMW Sauber took a 1-2 finish with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. This was round seven out of eighteen and Kubica now led the world championship and BMW Sauber were only three points behind Ferrari. If they had developed the 2008 car more, they might have been world championship contenders. It backfired because in 2009, Sauber were backmarkers for much of the season. 

Due to the financial crisis of 2008, BMW pulled out of Formula One at the end of 2009, and haven’t returned in any capacity since then.