BMW dropped the bombshell it would quit Formula E at the end of the 2021 campaign only a day after its star driver Maximilian Guenther had topped the closest pre-season test seen in the series. When the headlines could have been about 24 cars being split by just 0.761 seconds, instead they sharply switched to the sudden health hit FE had sustained.
PLUS: Why BMW and Audi have pulled the plug on Formula E
This time around, the timing of BMW's announcement that it will continue to supply the ever-present FE Andretti race team with a powertrain next term - an unsurprising path of least resistance - is not about creating a further distraction, coming on the day of the first race new of the season.