2010 BMW Sauber C29 and 2009 BMW F1.09 (click to enlarge)

The most striking difference between the new BMW Sauber C29 and its predecessor, the BMW F1.09, is the lack of and major sponsors on the new car.

But there are some notable design changes on the new car. Designer Willy Rampf has followed the 2010 trend for high noses and smaller, more sculpted sidepod air intakes. Like the later version of the F1.09, it also has a ‘shark fin’ at the back.

Compare the 2009 and 2010 cars below.

Right

2010 BMW Sauber C29 and 2009 BMW F1.09 (click to enlarge)

Images scaled so rear tyre dimensions match.

The longer, higher nose immediately catches the eye, and the wing is now mounted closer to the front wheels instead of from the tip of the nose.

Another distinctive feature is the ‘shark fin’ at the back of the car. This was present on the F1.09 at the end of last year as well as on the McLaren MP4-25 launched on Friday.

Like its 2010 rivals the back of the C29 is longer and wider to accommodate the larger fuel tank. The team have also had to cope with a switch to the Ferrari engine and gearbox – even though the car will still be called “BMW Sauber”.

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2010 BMW Sauber C29 and 2009 BMW F1.09 (click to enlarge)

Images scaled so front wing dimensions match.

We can also see the trend for high, upswept sidepod air intakes has continued here as well.

The front wing looks similar to the version raced at Abu Dhabi but with some detail changes, notably on the end plates.

Note: Because of the different zooms, angles and focal lengths used a perfectly accurate comparison is not possible.

2010 F1 car launches

• Renault R30 launched (Pictures)
• BMW Sauber C29 launched (Pictures)
• McLaren and Ferrari’s 2010 cars side-by-side (Pictures)
• Compare the new McLaren MP4-25 with last year’s car (Pictures)
• McLaren MP4-25 launch pictures
• 2010 Ferrari F10 and 2009 Ferrari F60 side-by-side (Pictures)
• Ferrari 2010 F1 car pictures

Image (C) BMW Sauber

The BMW Sauber C29 has an almost sponsor-free livery

BMW Sauber have revealed their 2010 F1 car.

The car lacks any major sponsors although the team announced several deals into the run-up to the launch, some of which feature on the car. They include Scalp-D, a Japanese shampoo, and watch brand Certina.

Here are the first pictures of the C29.

Although the team is no longer run by BMW the team has retained the name in its title. But the car carries on the model designation used by the Sauber team until 2005, when it raced the C24.

The car is now powered by Ferrari and also uses the Ferrari gearbox.

Technical director Willy Rampf described some of the changes to the car:

The increased length of the fuel tank means the car has grown longer overall. And because they are slimmer, the front tyres will be more heavily worked, requiring weight to be shifted further towards the rear of the car.

An eye-catching feature of the C29 is its highly intricate raised nose. Also very distinctive is an extremely long undercut at the transition from chassis into underbody. These and other aerodynamic measures also help to ensure optimum airflow to the double diffuser. Further changes were required to integrate the Ferrari engine and, in particular, the Ferrari gearbox.
Willy Rampf

BMW have also published the car’s basic specifications including some of its dimensions:

Chassis: Carbon-fibre monocoque
Suspension: Upper and lower wishbones (front and rear), inboard springs and dampers, actuated by pushrods (Sachs Race Engineering)
Brakes: Six-piston brake callipers (Brembo), carbon pads and discs (Brembo, Carbon Industries)
Transmission: Ferrari Seven-speed quick shift gearbox, carbon, longitudinally mounted, carbon-fibre clutch
Chassis electronics: MES
Steering wheel: BMW Sauber F1 Team
Tyres: Bridgestone Potenza
Wheels: OZ
Length: 4,940 mm
Width: 1,800 mm
Height: 1,000 mm
Track width, front: 1,495 mm
Track width, rear: 1,410 mm
Weight: 620 kg (including driver, tank empty)

BMW Sauber launch pictures

2010 F1 car launches

• McLaren and Ferrari’s 2010 cars side-by-side (Pictures)
• Compare the new McLaren MP4-25 with last year’s car (Pictures)
• McLaren MP4-25 launch pictures
• 2010 Ferrari F10 and 2009 Ferrari F60 side-by-side (Pictures)
• Ferrari 2010 F1 car pictures

Launch images courtesy of Dank on Twitter | Studio images (C) BMW Sauber

Pedro de la Rosa joins BMW Sauber after seven years with McLaren

BMW Sauber has confirmed Pedro de la Rosa will make a return to F1 in 2010 with the team.

De la Rosa will partner Japanese team mate Kamui Kobayashi.

De la Rosa said:

I always firmly believed I would be given another chance as a team driver. Since the number of test drives were radically reduced, this was what I was working towards.
Pedro de la Rosa

Peter Sauber expects de la Rosa’s experience to aid Kobayashi, who has made just two F1 starts:

We as a team stand to gain from his experience, and the same goes for young Kamui. The combination of a seasoned racer and an up-and-coming young driver has repeatedly proved a very fruitful one. I don’t expect either of them to disappoint in 2010. Of course it is also crucial that we provide them with a decent car; I feel positive about our in-house progress on that front too. We were able to continue work on our 2010 car as scheduled throughout the recent period of uncertainty.
Peter Sauber

The Spanish driver’s last F1 start was for McLaren at Interlagos in 2006. He spent half that season substituting for Juan Pablo Montoya.

According to Joe Saward, de la Rosa’s deal is being backed by a network of universities called Universia.

De la Rosa has had a patchy career in F1 which began when he scored a point on his debut for Arrows at Melbourne in 1999.

He spent two years with them and a further two with Jaguar. It’s fair to say he failed to capture the imagination of Spanish fans the way Fernando Alonso did when he had his breakthrough season for Renault in 2003, while de la Rosa was on the sidelines.

De la Rosa earned a reputation as a dependable test driver while at McLaren. He and Alonso were briefly team mates at McLaren in 2007, when both were implicated in the ‘spygate’ episode.

The expertise de la Rosa garnered as a test driver was put to use by the designers of the Motorland Aragon circuit, which I interviewed him about last year.

His years of experience will make him an excellent benchmark for Kobayashi. But you could have said the same about Nick Heidfeld, and in many ways it’s a surprise to see de la Rosa get the seat instead of the German, who has driven for the team in six seasons of F1.

Pedro de la Rosa joins BMW Sauber

• Heidfeld running out of options
• Pedro de la Rosa biography
• 2010 F1 drivers and teams

Pedro de la Rosa at the BMW Sauber factory

Image (C) BMW Sauber

Sauber said: “I will keep myself informed on all important developments, but will leave operational matters to the management in Hinwil.”

His son Alex, 36, will be in charge of the team’s marketing department.

Willy Rampf remains at the team as technical director, a position he occupied during as well as before the BMW takeover. Here are the positions the team has announced today:

Peter Sauber – President of the Board of Directors
Monisha Kaltenborn – Managing Director
Alex Sauber – Marketing
Willy Rampf – Technical Director
Urs Jampen – Finance Director
Jürg Flach – Director of Operations (production)

Read more: BMW Sauber launch new website

As you’d expect there’s not much to see at the moment but there is a nice rolling gallery of the team’s racing cars including the gorgeous Sauber-Mercedes sports cars and early F1 cars.

The team has also put up a few pictures of Kamui Kobayashi during his seat fitting:

Read more: Kamui Kobayashi joins Sauber for 2010

Images (C) BMW Sauber team

Stay up-to-date on the F1 2010 season by following F1 Fanatic. You can follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our RSS feed or get the latest updates by email.

The wraps will come off the new car at 2:30pm local time. Testing for the 2010 F1 season will begin at the track the day after.

So far the team has only announced one driver – Kamui Kobayashi. It will continue to use the name ‘BMW’ despite control of the team having been handed back to Peter Sauber.

See the F1 Fanatic Google calendar for 2010 F1 launch and test dates in full

BMW will do a lot of its racing at American venues - like Laguna Seca - next year

BMW have announced details of the categories they will be racing in during 2010 having pulled out of F1.

Far from pulling out of motor racing entirely the company is expanding its GT racing programme, leaving you to wonder what these other categories offer which F1 does not.

GT racing

BMW M3 GTRs racing in the ALMS at for F1 venue Long Beach

BMW will have a works team competing in 24-hour races for the first time since 2005 – before it became a full Grand Prix team.

The BMW M3 GT2 will race in the 24-hour races at Le Mans, Spa-Francorchamps and the Nürburgring. BMW will also have two M3 GT2s in the American Le Mans Series run by Rahal Letterman Racing.

Customer teams will be able to run a GT3-specification BMW Z4.

What does GT racing offer BMW that F1 does not? Certainly the cost of competition will be lower, though the amount of exposure offered by these championships will also be less.

It’s also significant BMW is racing in the major American sports car championship when F1 has not had a race there since 2007. The 2010 ALMS calendar has eight rounds in the USA and one in Canada – which F1 is returning to next year.

BMW may also be attracted by the potential to promote particular models – the M3 and Z4 – which people can buy road-going versions of.

World Touring Car Championship

Multiple WTCC champion Andy Priaux in action at Macau this year

BMW’s scaled-down WTCC programme for 2010 shows the team is looking for a more cost-effective motor sport programme. It’s five-man team of 2009 has been trimmed down to two – Andy Priaulx and Augusto Farfus.

What has always been curious about BMW’s choice of the WTCC to compete in is that its manufacturer rivals in the series – Seat and Chevrolet – are not significant competitors for road car sales. If that’s what it wanted, BMW would surely race in the DTM against Audi and Mercedes instead.

Rather like F1, the WTCC is an international series with a European bias. Brazil, Mexico, Morocco, Japan and Macau are the only races outside Europe in 2010, with the other rounds taking place in Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Britain, the Czech Republic, Germany and Spain.

Andy Priaulx won the world title in a BMW 3 Series from 2005 to 2007 (and in 2004 when it was the European championship). Since then the team have struggled to beat the diesel-powered Seat Leons and there have been several rows about how the FIA has gone about equalising the performance of the cars.

Formula BMW

F1-supporting Formula BMW Europe remains in 2010

The Formula BMW junior single-seater championship started as a category in Germany in 2002 and spawned several international offshoots including an F1-supporting European category in 2008. There has been some scaling back of the programme in recent years and in 2010 only the Pacific and European categories will continue.

Mario Theissen is keen to stress the success of the programme:

Five former BMW drivers lined up in [F1 this year] – and with great success. Nico Rosberg, Timo Glock, Adrian Sutil and Sebastien Buemi all scored World Championship points. Sebastian Vettel even celebrated four Grand Prix victories and finished the season as runner-up in the drivers’ championship, behind Jenson Button.

Nico Hülkenberg and Bruno Senna will join the quintet in 2010 as regular F1 drivers. A number of other Formula BMW graduates can also hope to get a taste of Formula One as test and reserve drivers.
Mario Theissen

However BMW never got any of its graduates into its F1 team for the long term: Sebastian Vettel made his F1 debut for them in 2007 but was already on a long-term contract with Red Bull. BMW also tried and failed to keep test driver Timo Glock from joining Toyota in 2008.

Without a single-seater team to promote its drivers to, you have to wonder what the value of the championship is to BMW, and whether it might wind down in the future. There is certainly no shortage of junior categories for young drivers and there’s about to be one more with the arrival of GP3 next year.

What do you think has attracted BMW to these other racing series as it turns its back on F1? What role, if any, might the Max Mosley sex scandal and Bernie Ecclestone’s notorious Hitler comments have played? Have your say in the comments.

Read more: BMW: Ten years in F1 in 100 pictures

BMW wave goodbye but they'll return in 2010 as Sauber

The FIA has confirmed Sauber will be granted the 13th slot on the 2010 F1 grid after it was left vacant by departing rivals Toyota.

Although the team have officially competed as ‘BMW-Sauber’ for the past four years, this confirms the return of Sauber as an independent outfit in F1, last seen in 2005.

Sauber still have to sign the Concorde Agreement which will guarantee their space on the grid.

It remains to be seen if Toyota will have to pay a fine to the FIA for leaving the sport despite having committed to it until 2012.

Sauber have been tipped to use Ferrari engines next year, as they did in F1 from 1997-2005, during which time they were badged Petronas.

However hopes for a full 13-team grid may yet be dashed as Renault have not confirmed their participation in 2010.

Read more: 2010 F1 drivers and teams

Virgin will have its own F1 team next year

The official 2010 F1 teams list published today by the FIA has confirmed long-standing rumours the new Manor entry will be branded by former Brawn sponsors Virgin.

The FIA has also noted the absence of an entry from Toyota and has not yet substituted it with another team – including new BMW owners Sauber.

Toyota may have to pay a fine to the FIA for not entering next year despite having signed the Concorde Agreement. They may be able to avoid it if they arrange for someone to take over their team and run it in F1.

Zoran Stefanovic has been rumoured to be interested in taking over the outfit and using their TF110 designs for next season. He currently has a case against the FIA being heard by the European Commission about how the 2010 team entries were handled.

Meanwhile BMW, which does not have an entry for 2010 having refused to sign the Concorde Agreement and subsequently quit F1, has cancelled the sale of the team to Qadbak and sold it to Peter Sauber instead. That surely raises the prospect of it being on the grid next year.

Also of interest in the entry list is the confirmation the 1 Malaysia entry will be known as ‘Lotus’, despite having little in the way of ties to the historic Lotus team. Is it right that such a historic name is being used in this way?

The numbers have been allocated for the four new teams with Lotus getting the lowest pair and Virgin the highest.

Although the list reveals no new information about the driver line-up, it does show Bruno Senna is down as the ‘second’ Campos driver, which could be an indication the team is expecting to find a more experienced driver for the other seat to pair with the rookie.

As for Virgin, it’s surprising they’ve allowed the official news of their Manor deal to slip out in this fashion. Did they not want to make a proper announcement with all the publicity it would bring?

2010 F1 teams entry list

1 Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes
2 Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes
3 Nico Rosberg, Brawn-Mercedes*
4 TBC, Brawn-Mercedes
5 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
6 Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault
7 Felipe Massa, Ferrari
8 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
9 Rubens Barrichello, Williams-Cosworth
10 Nico Hülkenberg, Williams-Cosworth
11 Robert Kubica, Renault
12 TBC, Renault
14 Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes
15 Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India-Mercedes
16 Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17 TBC, Toro Rosso-Ferrari
18 TBC, Lotus-Cosworth
19 TBC, Lotus-Cosworth
20 TBC, Campos-Cosworth
21 Bruno Senna, Campos-Cosworth
22 TBC, US F1-Cosworth
23 TBC, US F1-Cosworth
24 Timo Glock, Virgin-Cosworth
25 TBC, Virgin-Cosworth

*Has applied to change its name to Mercedes Grand Prix

Read more: 2010 F1 drivers and teams

But now according to Variety magazine they’re going to used the money they’ve saved putting more adverts into films:

BMW stunned Hollywood six years ago when it left the entertainment biz in its rearview mirror. But BMW now wants to make a comeback, hiring Propaganda GEM as its global entertainment marketing agency of record. [...]

BMW still doesn’t boast a major marketing budget, but it recently freed up millions by pulling out as an official sponsor of Formula One racing. It will funnel some of that back into entertainment after sponsoring the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

F1 loses a team, films get even more crass product placement. There’s a lose-lose situation.

BMW famously put James Bond – usually spotted in an Aston Martin – behind the wheel of a Z8 in 1999′s “The World is Not Enough”. The unloved Z8 was canned after just four years in production. Bond’s was sawn in half and even that was probably too good for it.

The article also reckons BMWs “have become the favoured wheels of villains.” But I think that’s a bit harsh on Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica.

Will BMW get better brand recognition from product placement than they did out of F1? At least this way they don’t have to come up with excuses for being beaten by Mercedes.

Via Autoblog