F1 Teams

BMW Sauber

Swiss Peter Sauber ran sportscars for several years before he pulled off a coup by enticing Mercedes back to international racing in the late-80s. Together they won the Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Sportscar title, and developed a young Michael Schumacher. The plan was to run a Sauber-Mercedes F1 team, but the manufacturer withdrew its support. Sauber carried on and entered F1 in its own right in 1993, before Mercedes changed its mind and came in after all in ‘94. However, it soon switched its support to McLaren. Sauber attracted works Ford backing for a while, and main driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen scored several good results. In 1997 Ford moved elsewhere so Sauber bought ‘customer’ engines from Ferrari, which were named in honour of Malaysian backer Petronas. The following year French star Jean Alesi joined the team.

The team reached a peak when Nick Heidfeld and rookie Kimi Raikkonen helped it to fourth in the championship in 2001. In June 2005 Sauber sold his company to BMW, but retained a 20% shareholding. The team was re-launched as BMW Sauber in 2006, with the engine and transmission supplied from Munich. With Heidfeld and Robert Kubica driving the team was clearly the third best in 2007, and both men continue this season.

Ferrari
Ferrari is the oldest team in Grand Prix racing, having made its debut in the second ever World Championship GP at Monaco in 1950. The marque was created by former driver and Alfa Romeo entrant Enzo Ferrari in 1947. After early success in sportscars the team turned its attention to single-seaters, with Alberto Ascari as its main driver. The Italian dominated the 1952-’53 seasons. Ferrari has been a fixture in GP racing ever since, despite intense pressure from the Italian media, and internal political upheavals. In recent years it has struggled to win the ultimate honour.

After Jody Scheckter’s title success in 1979 the team endured two decades of near misses, as British teams did most of the winning. Enzo Ferrari died in 1988, and while the team lost some of its previous mystique, it continued to receive enthusiastic support around the world. Ferrari’s form improved after Michael Schumacher joined in 1996, and the subsequent arrivals of technical director Ross Brawn and chief designer Rory Byrne from Benetton also helped to raise Ferrari’s game. After coming close several times Schumacher went on to win the championship five times in a row between 2000 and 2004, before retiring at the end of 2006. His replacement Kimi Raikkonen won the title in great style last season.

Honda
Honda raced in F1 in its own right between 1964-’68, winning two Grands Prix before withdrawing. In 1983 it returned and won World Championships as an engine supplier to both Williams and McLaren. The current Honda team first appeared under the British American Racing name in 1999. The ambitious project was put together by Craig Pollock, manager of Jacques Villeneuve, in partnership with racing car constructor Adrian Reynard, and was built around Jacques Villeneuve. The team first joined forces with Honda in 2000, when the Japanese company became an engine supplier. However over the first few years of its life the team had little success, only occasionally breaking into the points.

In 2004 there was a major improvement as Jenson Button became a regular podium finisher. Anti-tobacco legislation meant that owners British American Tobacco eventually decided to sell the team to Honda, and it was subsequently renamed. In 2006 Button scored a memorable win in a wet race in Hungary, but last year a bad car saw both the Briton and team mate Rubens Barrichello struggling. The arrival of former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn as team principal should encourage a revival this year.

Mercedes- McLaren
New Zealander Bruce McLaren raced for the Cooper F1 team for eight years, winning three GPs. He built his own F1 car in 1966, and after a low-key start his team grew more competitive. Bruce scored its first victory in 1968, but he was killed testing a sportscar in 1970. The team lived on under the direction of American Teddy Mayer. Team McLaren subsequently won titles with Emerson Fittipaldi (’74) and James Hunt (’76), before a decline set in. In late 1980 sponsor Marlboro engineered a merger with a new team being set up by F2 entrant Ron Dennis. With Honda power McLaren was utterly dominant from 1988-’91, thanks to Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. After another slump in the 90s, McLaren returned to the top in 1998 as Mika Hakkinen took the team’s 10th World Championship, before going on to repeat his success the following year.

When the Finn retired he was replaced by countryman Kimi Raikkonen who came close in both 2003 and 2005, but suffered with reliability problems. Last year Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton joined the team and became involved in an amazing fight that culminated with the Spaniard leaving the team at the end of the year. He is replaced in 2008 by Heikki Kovalainen.

Red Bull Racing
Red Bull Racing has had three distinct identities, having been born as Stewart Grand Prix in 1997. Jackie Stewart won three World Championships as a driver before retiring in 1973. When son Paul decided to try his hand at racing in 1987, Jackie helped him to set up Paul Stewart Racing. The team gradually expanded to run other drivers in F3 and F3000 with considerable success. Looking for a way into GP racing, the Stewarts pulled off a coup when they persuaded Ford to support their planned team. Stewart GP made its debut in 1997, and after just a few races Rubens Barrichello scored a stunning second place in the rain at Monaco. In 1999 Johnny Herbert scored a memorable wet win in Germany.

That year the team was acquired by Ford, and was rebranded as Jaguar for the following year, with Eddie Irvine hired as main driver. Over the next five seasons the team struggled to make an impact, and Ford decided to cut its losses. At the end of 2004 it was sold to Red Bull and renamed. David Coulthard was hired as main driver and continues in that role today. He was joined from last season by Aussie mark Webber. The arrival of top designer Adrian Newey at the end of 2005 provided a major boost.

Renault
Renault raced in its own right with a French-based team and a turbo engine from 1977-85. However, the current Renault team was originally founded under the Toleman name in 1981. The first car was a disaster, but form gradually improved and by 1984 rookie Ayrton Senna was able to surprise the establishment with his pace. The team then faced a financial crisis, and it was sold to the Benetton clothing company. The name was changed for 1986, and Gerhard Berger gave the team its first win in 1986. However, Benetton had scored only a handful of victories before Michael Schumacher came on board in 1991.

The young German helped to propel the team into the limelight, taking two World Championships in 1994 and ‘95. Since he left the team has struggled to repeat the success it enjoyed, partly because key technical staff also followed Schumacher to Ferrari. Later the team was taken over and renamed by Renault, and the arrival of Fernando Alonso was the catalyst for a return to the top, winning the World Championship in both 2005 and 2006. After he left the team lost form last year, but he returns in 2008 with Nelson Piquet Jr as his team mate.

Scuderia Toro Rosso
For the first 20 years of its existence Scuderia Toro Rosso was known as Minardi. The Italian team managed to survive through turbulent times - despite an ongoing lack of success and lack of major sponsorship. Giancarlo Minardi ran an F2 team for several years before building his first F1 car for the 1985 season. Since then the Italian team has only rarely had a car capable of getting near the points, although it picked up two fourth places in 1991, and another in 1993. Over the years the team helped many young drivers to break into F1, including Giancarlo Fisichella and Jarno Trulli. That trend continued when Australian businessman Paul Stoddart took over in 2001, and gave chances to the likes of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. However in September 2005 he sold the team to Red Bull, who gave it a new name for the following season.

Later former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger joined as co-owner. In its first season in 2006 the team was the only one using restricted V10 engines so it was hard to judge progress. Last year it had Ferrari V8 engines and a car based on the sister RBR design. New signing Sebastian Vettel scored an amazing fourth in China, and is joined in 2008 by former Champcar star Sebastien Bourdais.

Super Aguri
Super Aguri is the youngest team in the F1 field, having been built from nothing in the winter of 2005-6. The team was founded by Aguri Suzuki, who raced in F1 between 1988 and 1995 with the Larrousse, Footwork, Jordan and Ligier teams, and finished third in his home Grand Prix in Japan in 1990. After he retired from driving Suzuki started teams in Japan and America and worked on plans to move up to F1. He got his chance when the works Honda team dropped Takuma Sato at the end of 2005, and the manufacturer decided to find another seat for him. The only option was to help Suzuki start a new team by supplying engines and other support.

The team was put together in just a few weeks using many elements from the Arrows team that had closed down in 2002, including the old chassis, the factory, and personnel. The team struggled through its first year in 2006 at the back of the field, but after it was given the works Honda design for last season there was a massive upturn in form. Sato twice scored points and he and team mate Anthony Davidson regularly humbled the official Honda team.

Toyota
Toyota entered the sport in 2002 after making the bold decision to establish a team from scratch. The company has a long history in motor sport, and after first establishing a base in Europe in 1973 it achieved great success in rallying, winning the World Championship several times. In 1998-99 the Cologne team ran a Le Mans programme, but failed to win the event before Grand Prix racing became the priority. The existing rally base was upgraded and new personnel hired, and after a year of testing Allan McNish and Mika Salo raced the first car in Australia in 2002, where the Finn took a promising sixth place. However, after that it proved hard to make real forward progress, and the team has undergone several changes of personnel and drivers over the years.

The arrival of future Force India technical boss Mike Gascoyne saw an improvement in fortunes, and in 2005 Jarno Trulli took two second places and finished seventh in the championship. It seemed that the team had really arrived, but after Gascoyne left its form faded once again. In 2008 Trulli is joined by Timo Glock, who briefly raced for Jordan in 2004.

Williams
Frank Williams had a brief career as a driver before deciding that he was more suited to running a team. He entered F1 with a Brabham in 1969, driven by great friend Piers Courage. Two second places confirmed the potential of the team, but tragically Courage was killed the following year. Frank spent most of the 70s trying to conjure up enough money to keep his team going, and rarely rose above the status of midfielder. In 1977 he made a fresh start by setting up Williams Grand Prix Engineering with talented designer Patrick Head. The team quickly grew in stature and was winning by 1979. Alan Jones became World Champion the following year.

The team’s fortunes peaked in 1992-97, when Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve all became World Champions. In 2000 the team linked up with engine supplier BMW and was soon winning races with Ralf Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, but the two companies parted at the end of 2005 leaving Williams as a true private team. Since last year the team has used Toyota engines, and the Japanese connection sees rookie Kazuki Nakajima join Nico Rosberg this year.

Force India
Force India represents the current ownership of the Silverstone-based team originally created by Eddie Jordan. The team has had a turbulent recent history with first the Midland Group and then the Spyker car maker taking ownership. 2008 will mark another big change as the team runs under an Indian licence as Force India.

The Midland Group, headed up by Alex Shnaider, was looking at its investment in Formula One as a way of promoting its brand. The early stages of the Formula One venture were not a perfectly smooth one for Midland who looked to Italian manufacturer Dallara for technical input on the M16.

Under the guidance of Managing Director Colin Kolles, James Key was the team’s new Technical Director and the team has signed Dutch racer Christijan Albers to partner Tiago Monteiro and retained Toyota power.

With limited resources, the 2006 season was always going to be a struggle for the Silverstone-based squad. Albers and Monteiro proved closely matched - and on occasion such as at Monaco - too closely matched. Points were never the target for the team but they did want to show the way to rivals Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri Honda.

The rain hit Hungarian Grand Prix would bring the team its best result with Monteiro finishing in ninth position ahead of Albers. By this time, the team was in deep negotiations with a Dutch consortium led by specialist car builder Spyker.

An announcement at the Italian Grand Prix late in the season confirmed the Spyker purchase, ending Alex Shnaider’s brief foray with Formula One. The team signed up Ferrari power for 2007 and recruited former Jordan, Renault and Toyota Technical Director Mike Gascoyne as they hoped to build on a fairly turbulent season in 2007.

As early as the Monaco Grand Prix in May it was rumoured that Spyker cars were looking to get out of Formula One. The costs alone of running a team in modern day Formula One are too much for a small car maker to sustain. However, running under the Spyker banner the team made progress through the season, culminating in its first and sole championship point at the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix.

Christijan Albers struggled against rookie team-mate Adrian Sutil and was dropped from the line-up mid-season. Sutil meanwhile found himself with Marcus Winkelhock as his team-mate for the rain-hit European Grand Prix.

Winkelhock certainly made a name for himself in what was his first Grand Prix start as he and the team gambled on rain tyres just ahead of the start of the race and as a result enjoyed a 15-second lead as the others were all forced to pit for wet rubber. It was a masterstroke of logic from Mike Gascoyne and Winkelhock which sadly went unrewarded as the race progressed.

Sakon Yamamoto, formerly of Super Aguri Honda, joined Sutil for the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. After a shaky start to his season, the Japanese racer actually put in a pretty impressive performance.

However it is all change again for the 2008 season with Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol forming Orange India Holdings and taking over the team. Mallya has promised an increase in budget to 125 million dollars, a large rise on the estimate 70 million of the 2007 campaign, and has retained Sutil to partner veteran Giancarlo Fisichella.