BMW has confirmed that it has no interest in joining fellow German manufacturers Mercedes and Audi on the Formula 1 grid.
The marque, which last competed in the top Le Mans category in 1999, recently returned to endurance racing by entering the FIA World Endurance Championship's Hypercar class.
Former F1 driver Kevin Magnussen is racing for BMW in 2025.
But when asked about a potential return to Formula 1, BMW motorsport chief Frank van Meel was clear.
"We're not ignoring (F1). We're just not participating," he said at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este classic car event.
"That is on purpose. For us, the WEC was the place to go."
BMW exited F1 at the end of 2009 after its collaboration with Sauber — the same team that is now transitioning into Audi's full factory F1 operation ahead of 2026.
Van Meel explained the technical reasoning behind BMW's decision to focus elsewhere.
"The (WEC) cars are closer to series-production models. We can learn things and transfer things," he said.
"In Formula 1, to learn things and transfer things to series-production cars is almost impossible. It's too far away."
While acknowledging the marketing value of F1, van Meel stressed that BMW's motorsport efforts must be tied to real-world relevance.
"We do, of course, use it for marketing," he said. "But it's not for marketing only. For us, it also has to have something to do with the real thing — with the real cars that people can buy."
