Video: BMW chronicles 10 years in Formula One

As the final curtain of the 2009 season comes down, BMW closes its paddocks one last time and bids goodbye to a sport that it has been an integral part of for a decade.

Despite not winning the World Championship since it re-entered Formula One in 1999, BMW – which returned as the BMW Williams F1 Team - closes the latest chapter in their storied F1 history with a resume that includes ten wins, 17 pole positions, and 45 podium finishes from 2001-2005.

After 2005, the team became BMW Sauber F1 and since then has accumulated over 300 World Championship points, including the team’s first-ever win at the 2008 Canadian Grand Prix. This year – the team’s final season in Formula One – BMW Sauber F1 finished a disappointing sixth in the Constructor’s Championship after an off-season that saw the team as one of the upstart challengers to the supposed Ferrari-McLaren tug-of-war.

Now that the season has come to end, BMW’s tenure in Formula One closes along with it. It’s been a great ten-year run, to say the least. And while we won’t be seeing BMW in the pit lanes in the foreseeable future, we’re not closing our doors to the day when BMW makes another comeback in Formula One.