Annually, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este provides us a glimpse into BMW’s most unique design pondering. However in 2025, we introduced one thing else to the desk: a dialog on the intersection of engineering, design and racing.
BMWBLOG hosted its annual design speak on the shores of Lake Como, this 12 months titled “Born on the racetrack; Made for the streets.” Becoming a member of us on stage had been BMW M CEO Frank van Meel, Head of BMW Design Compact Class and BMW M Oliver Heilmer, and BMW manufacturing unit driver Augusto Farfus. Over the course of an hour, the panel lined every thing from the way forward for M design to race-bred tech in highway automobiles. However one query—submitted by a fan from the BMWBLOG neighborhood—struck a nerve: “System 1 is greater than ever. Why is BMW nonetheless ignoring it?”
Van Meel didn’t duck the query. He smiled, paused, and supplied the sort of direct response you don’t all the time get in a company setting. “We’re not ignoring System 1,” he mentioned. “We’re simply not taking part. That’s on goal.”
F1 Is Flashy. However Is It Helpful?
On paper, the concept of BMW returning to System 1 is a no brainer. The model has deep roots within the sport—suppose Brabham within the Nineteen Eighties, or the BMW clear period within the 2000s. A Roundel on the F1 grid subsequent to McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes, or subsequent 12 months’s Audi, would thrill followers and fire up nostalgia. However nostalgia alone doesn’t justify a multimillion-euro motorsport program.
As a substitute, BMW has chosen to deal with endurance racing. The model returned to the highest class of sports activities automobile racing in 2024 with the BMW M Hybrid V8competing at Le Mans, Daytona, and throughout the FIA World Endurance Championship. It’s a special path—quieter in some methods, however much more related to the highway automobiles clients really drive.
“For us, the World Endurance Championship was the place to go,” van Meel defined. “These automobiles are merely nearer to what we construct for the highway.”
Why Endurance Racing Issues Extra to BMW
Van Meel laid it out clearly. F1 is an engineering showcase, sure—however it’s additionally a silo. The ultra-specific applied sciences developed for System 1 hardly ever make it out of the paddock and into the showroom. That’s not the case in endurance racing, the place the hybrid methods and thermal administration methods are sometimes just some steps faraway from what BMW M is engineering into its manufacturing fashions.
“From System One, to be taught issues and switch them to series-production automobiles is sort of inconceivable. It’s too distant,” he mentioned.
In distinction, the challenges of 24-hour racing—excessive temperatures, long-distance sturdiness, vitality restoration—mirror what BMW engineers are engaged on for next-gen M automobiles. The proof? Simply take a look at the brand new M5. Frank and Augusto mentioned they realized quite a bit about how a hybrid drivetrain behaves in grueling circumstances.
Racing With Objective, Not Only for the Podium
BMW’s racing philosophy has all the time leaned sensible. Even in its most dominant motorsport eras—whether or not DTM, GT3, or ALMS—the aim wasn’t simply to win, however to be taught. That spirit is alive in LMDh as we speak. And for BMW M, that’s extra priceless than chasing headlines on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re not racing only for advertising,” van Meel mentioned. “After all we use it for advertising, however it’s not simply that. It has to hook up with the actual automobiles, to what folks should purchase. That’s why LMDh is solely the higher match.”
So, is a return to System 1 off the desk perpetually? Who is aware of. However for now, BMW is making it clear: racing is a laboratory, not a spectacle. And WEC gives the sort of suggestions loop F1 merely can’t. That mentioned, we’ve heard that System 1 has come up in BMW’s high-level discussions almost yearly for the previous decade.”
Keep tuned—our full video of the Villa d’Este design panel might be out quickly, together with extra insights on BMW M design, the philosophy behind the M2 CS, and the way BMW M is evolving within the electrical period.
