The company made the surprise announcement today saying that it wanted to put its resources into sustainability in transport.
It leaves only four manufacturer-linked teams in the race series -- Fiat-owned Ferrari, McLaren's partners Mercedes, Renault and Toyota.
There are suggestions that a partner might take over the team that BMW bought from Peter Sauber in 2005.
Honda quit the series in December due to difficult business conditions. That team was resurrected as Brawn GP, the current championship leaders. Brawn uses Mercedes engines.
