In the same week that Michael Schumacher announced his return to Formula One, Nelson Piquet and BMW confirmed they’re leaving. Piquet’s sacking and BMW’s withdrawal will have a notable impact on the 2010 driver market, and whilst neither event was related they may end up working to the benefit of each other.

Nelson Piquet’s dismissal at the hands of Renault was not much of a surprise and some in the F1 paddock felt it was overdue. The young Brazilian was mediocre throughout his debut season but was given a second chance to impress this year. Renault expected Nelsinho to show big signs of improvement with more experience under his belt but sadly he did not. It was written into Piquet’s contract that he had to score 40% of Fernando Alonso’s points tally by the German Grand Prix, but he fell short of this mark and was released from driving duties.

Piquet’s best result this year was tenth at Bahrain. The mistakes that he made throughout 2008 were still present in his driving, such as his clumsy spin out of the Australian Grand Prix, and the gap between himself and Alonso actually grew. Onboard video comparisons of the two on YouTube make the difference in raw speed clearly visible.

Having said that, Nelson Piquet was not given an easy time by Renault and he made that well known in a scathing attack on team management last week. His 1134 word statement was powerfully written and went into a lot of vicious detail. He repeatedly said that he was treated unfairly by the team and that Flavio Briatore went back on promises made to him last year. Nelson pointed out there were four races this season where Alonso had newer parts on his car and that Fernando received a lot of extra testing. Piquet explained that it was unrealistic of Renault to expect him to compare well against his teammate with that kind of disadvantage.

Everything that Piquet said was entirely correct and he made some valid points. He was not given equal treatment at Renault and Flavio Briatore is a very difficult person to deal with. His results were not great but he was not placed into a position where he could do anything special.

However, Formula One is not meant to be easy and Piquet simply wasn’t up to scratch. If Nelson had the pure skill of Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton his talent would have shone through despite the obvious setbacks.

Piquet proved in the lower formulae that he is a world class driver, but whether he is good enough to form part of the elite in Formula One is another argument. If he had been given lots of testing and a friendly team environment he would have done much better, but other drivers aren’t given that opportunity and still make the grade. Any competitor has to expect a very difficult time in a cut throat sport. Piquet was simply unable to make the most of the situation he found himself in.

His sacking was to be expected.

BMW’s exit was far more surprising and will have a significantly bigger impact on the sport.

The Bavarian Motor Works first entered Formula One in 1982 but pulled out after making just two models of engine. They returned in 2000 with Williams, urged on by the success of arch rivals Mercedes, and instantly built the most powerful units in F1. However, their engines were unreliable and Williams were producing average cars. The relationship between the two potential F1 superpowers came to a bitter end when BMW sought more control and the Germans started running their own team instead. They bought Sauber and developed the squad into a position where they could fight for race wins.

This year the wholesale regulation changes have caught out BMW and they’re experiencing their worst ever season in F1. The team has scored just eight points so far and four of those were a gift from the Malaysian rain clouds. Robert Kubica has finished in the points just once and his next best result is only eleventh.

It is a big fall from the team who led both Championships during the 2008 season.

BMW vaguely announced they were leaving Grand Prix racing at the end of this year due to “current developments in motorsport”.

Like all of the car companies in F1, the sport is a marketing exercise for BMW and they feel it is no longer worthwhile. It is very expensive, the team is not getting results, and it is not seen as being environmentally friendly. That final point is quite important because BMW are really pushing their green credentials at the moment. The failure of KERS might have moved F1 out of line with their agenda of ‘sustainable technologies’.

Just like Honda’s departure in December, the decision to withdraw was confirmed and announced very quickly. The Board of Directors made their call just 24 hours before telling the world. They had always intended to review the company’s participation in Formula One in July but were pushed to make a firm decision either way by the new Concorde Agreement. It had to be signed no later than August 5th, if they had done so BMW would have been legally committed to F1 until 2012. With that in mind the manufacturer decided to opt out instead. Without being forced into that position BMW might have waited another year before making the decision to leave – a decision that might not have been made had the team been performing well.

BMW will continue in other forms of motorsport and Mario Theissen has already suggested the brand could make a high profile return to the German DTM Championship.

The future of the team and its staff is in serious doubt. BMW pulled the plug only seven days before they had to endorse the Concorde Agreement which prevented a new owner from signing on to all of the financial arrangements that BMW would have been entitled to until 2012. Any buyer will now have to register as a new entrant which presents them with a number of commercial hurdles.

Peter Sauber says that he worked hard to find a buyer at such short notice, but that “negotiations with BMW failed because the demands were simply far too high”. If BMW are not trying that hard to sell the team and are instead aiming to close it down to get the most gain from the available assets, it displays a monumental lack of respect for motorsport. Honda did everything they could to help Brawn survive because it was the right thing to do for F1 and for their own employees. It might be that BMW do not have the same ethical viewpoint, and if so, it demonstrates why you cannot let the manufacturers take control of Formula 1. They have very short term goals and only have their best financial interests in mind. This point is highlighted by the fact that no-one would have thought Honda and BMW’s future commitment to F1 was on thin ice twelve months ago.

BMW will have ample opportunity to help Sauber survive in some form or another in 2010, but it remains to be seen if they are going to make that effort.

Interestingly, Piquet’s sacking from Renault might have given Sauber an unexpected lifeline.

Few F1 teams will have an interest in Piquet now following his disastrous spell at Renault. They would be much better off taking a risk with a rookie driver in the hope of unearthing the next Vettel or Hamilton. Perhaps the only way that Nelson Junior can score a place on the 2010 F1 grid is to buy his way in.

Nelsinho Piquet has spent almost his entire career driving for teams owned by his father. He raced for Piquet Sports in six different Formula Three competitions, and drove for Hitech Piquet Sports in GP2. The Piquet family is certainly not short on cash and may wish to make an F1 investment if it means saving junior’s career, without whom the other family run teams would never have existed.

BMW Sauber might be giving the Piquets a chance to do just that.

The Piquet name is popular in South America and should be able to attract some level of sponsorship. Nelson Senior also has very close ties with Bernie Ecclestone having won the World Championship with him during their time together at Brabham, so would surely have help with the finer logistical details of an F1 deal.

It would be quite ironic if BMW’s withdrawal from F1 gave Nelson Piquet Senior the chance to run his own team, because it was the arrival of the German manufacturer in the eighties that gave him his second World Championship.

Building a team around a driver that is barley F1 material is certainly not a winning idea, so the future of a hypothetical Piquet-Sauber outfit does not sound promising. Not only will the team have an average driver in one car all the time, but if they do manage to sign a huge talent (like Robert Kubica) their faster man is not going to have the favourable attention he needs to mount a consistent championship challenge. It’s hard to see a team run by the Piquets pushing for wins.

However, it might be the only option that Sauber has to survive.

That’s almost certainly the case for Nelsinho.