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I'm slightly suprised at this, I wasn't expecting BMW to tie themselves down to Williams for so long. The actual WIlliams chassis has been weaker than the engine for each of the last 3 years, and Gerhard Berger has been agitated about this.
What happens if Honda buy BAR, Mercedes buy McLarenoir strike out on their own? BMW become the only non-fully-works team. This may not impact their track performance, but it will cost them in the publicity stake,s which is ultiamtely what they're their for. 'Reanult' winning a race sounds much more impressive than 'Williams, assisted by BMW', which is how the man on the street views it.
Perhaps increased cross-pollination of technical staff will be the solution to the poor performance. Thinking about it, Frank and patrick will probably be ready to sell up by 2009, and BMW may buy the team. The whole environemtn of F1 might've changed by then though - 6 years is a long time to make this commitment.
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