Will Honda’s return inspire others? In statements reported by the British economic newspaper City A.M., Bernie Ecclestone seemed hopeful as he mentioned the probability of a BMW return. However, the Bavarian manufacturer quickly contradicted the octogenarian and denied any plans of returning: \u00ab I don’t know who Bernie spoke to [but] we are at the top of our current program, the DTM. In grand touring cars, on the Nordschleife, and in the American Le Mans Series, as well as in our customer programs, we have great results, explained Jens Marquardt, BMW’s competition director.<\/p>\n
And to add, categorically: \u00ab We have absolutely no intention of looking into other categories. We made the decision to leave Formula 1 fully aware of the implications. We have focused on what our customers recognize as being BMW. There is no reason to change our approach. It’s going very well for the moment. \u00bb<\/p>\n
Closer to production cars and the environmental issues that manufacturers must face, the next technical regulations seem to have prompted Honda to return to the top category, which seems far from being the case for BMW: \u00ab There is always a good time to invest in something. For example, we chose the right time to enter DTM because the new regulations were on the way. Today, Formula 1 has new engine regulations. It suits Honda, and we have noted it, but we have not reacted further. \u00bb<\/p>\n
The Munich firm is not the only one that has to deny a possible renewed interest in Formula 1. Indeed, even before Honda officially announced its return, there were rumors about a potential comeback project by Toyota, under the banner of Lexus, its prestige brand: \u00ab We do not plan to return to Formula 1. There are no Formula 1-related activities for Toyota, although, of course, several teams use our facilities for their own development, \u00bb a spokesperson for the Japanese firm specified to F1Technical.net<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Following Bernie Ecclestone’s statements regarding the possibility of BMW returning to Formula 1, the German manufacturer was quick to deny any such plans. Similarly, Toyota has refuted all rumors suggesting a renewed interest in Formula 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":40938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[1022,1025],"class_list":["post-17346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-moteur","tag-moteur-bmw"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n