Dr Wolfgang Ziebart, member of the BMW board, introduced BMW�s return to the highest level of the sport by revealing a 1999 Williams FW21B with the new BMW V10 engine and the new blue and white team livery.

Also in attendance at the launch were Sir Frank Williams, Managing Director of WilliamsF1, BMW Motorsport Directors Gerhard Berger and Dr Mario Thyssen and driver Ralf Schumacher.

The new car for the 2000 Formula One season will be unveiled later this month in Barcelona. At the same time the team�s new principal sponsor and driver line-up will be confirmed.

Dr Wolfgang Ziebart: The importance of synergy
"The fact that we launched the team here close to the BMW Research and Development Centre and the F1 engine facility underlines BMW�s philosophy," Ziebart said. "Of course motor racing characterises a brand. But above all for us, the synergy between innovation in Formula One and the production of road cars is of the utmost importance. We want to achieve the highest technological benefit for our products."

Frank Williams: A common learning process
Frank Williams who, together with Patrick Head, runs the successful WilliamsF1 team explained: "The last two years were not that good for us. The last time we won the World Championship was in 1997. Now we want to win our 10th Constructors� title and our 8th Drivers� title. I believe that we will make it with BMW - certainly not right from the start, but in the long run. In Formula One there are no short cuts; we will go through a learning process together."

Gerhard Berger: We will race to win in 2002
Gerhard Berger also made it clear that you cannot reach top levels of success overnight: "We have an incredible amount of difficult work in front of us. This is clear. What is unclear is when our efforts will lead us to success. As for clear predictions, Formula One is too complicated for this. But we have set ourselves a target - we want to be up with the top teams by the end of the second year and, in the third year, we will race to win."

Ralf Schumacher: A steep learning curve
A highly motivated Ralf Schumacher promised: "I�ll do my best for the new partnership in order to speed up the learning curve. I am honoured that these two prestigious companies have put their faith in me."

Note - the year 2000 Jordan car will be launched on January 31st. We'll be there.