Newsgroup: it.sport.formula1.moderato
Titolo: [ENG] Theissen to go to BMW board with Sauber purchase plan

Source: 
grandprix.com
http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns14728.html
Mario Theissen, the head of BMW Motorsport is to propose to the BMW
board of directors that the Munich company increase its investment in F1
and buy control of the Sauber team. The Swiss team is owned by the
banking house Credit Suisse but Peter Sauber retains all the voting
shares of the team, which means that he makes the decisions.
Credit Suisse bought the shares five years ago after Red Bull boss
Dietrich Mateschitz decided to cease his involvement with the team as an
owner, following a dispute over whether the team should hire Kimi
Raikkonen (Sauber's choice) or Enrique Bernoldi (Mateschitz's choice).
The bank has enjoyed a lot of exposure for relatively little investment
and might be willing to sell its shares despite the fact that the value
of the F1 teams is at a low ebb at the moment because of the political
uncertainty in the sport.
In banking logic it is better to take what one can rather than risk a
loss in the future.
Convincing Sauber to sell control of the team may not be a huge task,
particularly if the deal means that he stays on in some titular role and
enjoys motor racing without the responsibilities of being the team boss.
Sauber is 61 and, while not really thinking of retirement, he might like
an easier role. Theissen would be the new team principal, a role he
clearly relishes.
Convincing the board of BMW will be another matter. BMW is disappointed
with results that have been achieved with Williams in the last five
years. Both sides must take some of the blame for that. The problem for
Theissen is that having direct control will not necessarily guarantee
better results, even if the team is run by Bavarian supermen. Sauber has
had Ferrari engines for years but has yet to come close to the
performance of the Italian team. Building up the team would require
sizeable investment and would take time and during that phase of
development there would be no guarantees of any big results.
Theissen's logic, according to our spies, is to stay with Williams as
well, until Sauber is a success. This may sound like a wonderful idea for
the men in Munich but it is hardly a vote of confidence in Williams and
it is logical that in such a situation Williams would be on the lookout
for an alternative engine partner with a little more faith.
And if that happened BMW could end up with egg on its face.
As we understand it, the fallback plan would be for BMW to remain a
simple engine supplier and provide engines for Sauber and Williams, a
situation which would pitch the two teams against one another and would
make progress through open competition. A similar situation occurred with
Renault back in the 1990s and Williams ultimately emerged ahead of rival
Benetton after a year of Michael Schumacher-inspired success for the
Enstone team in 1995. Without Michael, Benetton was trounced by Williams
in 1996 and 1997.
The big question that needs to be answered in all of this is whether or
not BMW is willing to risk a massive investment at a time when there is
no certainty about the future of F1. Something will ultimately emerge
from the current political mess but it is a big risk to commit hundreds
of millions of dollars when the shape of the future is less than clear.
Copyright 1988-2005, Inside F1, Inc.
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 Tanto di cappello, Herr Sauber.
Purtroppo per Peter, è arrivato in F1 con almeno 10 anni di ritardo
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