BMW decided to return to Formula One in the late 1990s by signing an exclusive contract with the Williams team, which needed a new long-term engine supplier after the withdrawal of Renault in 1997.

The following year saw the partnership move from the midfield to challenging for race victories, but the desired championship remained elusive due to the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari in the first half of the 2000s.

Combined with the global financial recession and the company's frustration about the limitations of the contemporary technical regulations in developing technology relevant to road cars, BMW chose to withdraw from the sport, selling the team back to its founder, Peter Sauber.

[5] Initial discussions were held with double World Champion Niki Lauda and McLaren on the subject of a 1980 campaign, but the BMW board denied Neerpasch's request for the programme.

Neerpasch had arranged the sale of Rosche's M12/13 engine to Talbot, but Rosche and Neerpasch's successor, Dieter Stappert, successfully protested to their board that such an undertaking deserved full works commitment, particularly as the fact that M12/13 was derived from a production road car engine meant that potential success could be extremely valuable to BMW from a marketing and sales point of view.

[5] The team's lead driver, Nelson Piquet, tested the BT50 throughout 1981, but the car proved chronically unreliable until Bosch introduced a digital electronic management system at the end of the year, which immediately improved the situation.

[3] The BT50 made a solitary race weekend appearance at the 1981 British Grand Prix, where Piquet set a qualifying time 0.7 seconds slower than his effort in the Cosworth DFV-powered BT49.

[7] Brabham began the 1982 season with two BMW-powered BT50 chassis at the South African Grand Prix, where Piquet and Patrese qualified second and fourth respectively, but retired early in the race.

As the relationship between Brabham, BMW and Parmalat became strained, Ecclestone was forced to compromise, with Piquet continuing development of the BT50 whilst Patrese raced with the Cosworth chassis.

In 1983, the improved reliability of the BMW engine in the new BT52 allowed Piquet to win the Drivers' Championship, after overhauling Alain Prost (Renault) in the points standings.

BMW also began supplying its engines to the German ATS team this season, but sole driver Manfred Winkelhock was unable to score any points.

The team's A7 chassis was not ready at the beginning of the season, and drivers Marc Surer and Thierry Boutsen drove the Cosworth-engined A6 on ten out of 32 entries, but scored three points with BMW engines later in the year.

The second Brabham was filled in most races by Teo Fabi, who attempted to compete in a full season of IndyCars, but committed to F1 full-time part-way through the year.

Arrows, by contrast, had a much improved season, scoring 17 points with Berger and Boutsen, including a podium finish for the latter at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Despite its theoretical advantages, the BT55 proved uncompetitive, suffering from poor traction and numerous mechanical failures caused by oil scavenge problems in the tilted engine.

BMW's most successful 1986 partnership was thus with the new Benetton team, which scored 19 points, won the Mexican Grand Prix and took two pole positions with Berger and Teo Fabi.

BMW reduced its full works commitment to the sole supply of Brabham in 1987; the team produced the more conservative BT56 chassis and scored ten points with Patrese, Andrea de Cesaris and Stefano Modena.

The engine immediately proved to have a significant power improvement, and propelled Schumacher and new teammate Juan Pablo Montoya into contention for race victories.

The team scored twelve more points than in the previous year and beat McLaren to second place in the Constructors' Championship, but only won a single race with Schumacher at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

This design proved ineffective, however, in another year of Ferrari dominance, and Williams slipped to fourth in the Constructors' Championship, with Montoya's victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix its sole win in the 2004 season.

The team continued to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing, while BMW's headquarters in Munich were responsible for building the new 2.4-litre P86 V8 engine, revised technical regulations forcing a change from the 3-litre V10 formula.

Villeneuve scored the team's first points with a seventh-place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix, after Heidfeld retired from fifth with an engine failure late in the race.

The team ran a radical "twin towers" aero enhancement on the front of the car for the French Grand Prix, which was meant to improve the flow of air over the top of the chassis.

[9] The parts were promptly banned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as they were adjudged to impede the drivers' vision and thus compromise safety.

On 19 October 2006, BMW announced that Robert Kubica would partner Nick Heidfeld for the 2007 Formula One season with Sebastian Vettel taking the test and reserve driver role.

In the early races of the season, Heidfeld and Kubica scored a series of points finishes and established BMW Sauber as the third-fastest team, behind Ferrari and McLaren.

Over the remainder of the season, he and Heidfeld continued their form to score a total of 101 points, which secured the team second in the Constructors' Championship after McLaren's disqualification.

The team also attained a second-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix with Robert Kubica, beating both Ferraris and only trailing the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton by three seconds.

After the qualifying session for the British Grand Prix Mario Theissen announced that the team had decided to halt further development KERS; of which BMW had been one of the strongest proponents, and focus instead on improving the car's aerodynamics.

[19] On 15 September 2009 it was announced that BMW Sauber had secured a buyer, Qadbak Investments Limited which said to represent European and Middle Eastern interests.