A history of the F1 Teams Part 1

Many F1 teams have come and gone, some old, some new, but always adding new allure to the sport. Historically, it was the Italians that dominated the F1 Championships, particularly in the early years. These inlcude Ferrari, which is still a mainstay and winning team today, but also teams like Alfa Romeo which was also a leader, although now no longer associated with F1 racing. Other big name teams that were leaders in F1 and are no longer racing, include Maserati, Lancia, Lotus, Brabham, Bugatti and Tyrell, just to mention a few. Then there are teams like Mercedes, which back in the 1950s and 1960s was a leader in motor racing, only to pull out and re-emerge again the second time around in co-operation with McLaren.

Although there are many reasons for a team to pull-out of F1 racing, in many cases, it is simply a matter of cost. F1 racing is an immensely costly undertaking, not only from the technical and mechanical point of view, as well as logistics - races these days are held all over the world -, but also from a driver’s point of view, who nowadays command star salaries. In the heyday of F1 racing, it was the tobacco company sponsorships that kept many F1 teams afloat, but with the dwindling of such sponsorship, many teams are having to look for other sources of funding, which are becoming hard to come by. It is not only the teams that are being adversely affected with the banning of tobacco advertising, but also the racing tracks that have to fund the Grand Prix races are feeling the pinch to find new sponsorship and monies to host the races.

It has never been a light-hearted decision for car makers or other sponsors to enter the F1 racing world. For example, Honda, which had no car racing experience (but had ample motorcycle racing experience), took many years to decide whether to enter the F1 racing world before it finally did in 1983. Since then, many car companies have joined the F1 team line-up, such as BMW, Ford and Toyota. One of their aims is to use their involvement in F1 racing to develop new technologies, know-how and experience that can then be translated into their commercial vehicles. The other is of course, pure marketing appeal. Over the years, there have also been non-car affiliated teams, such as Bennetton, the clothing company, or major team sponsorships, such as Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), a Swiss investment bank, sponsoring the Petronas team.

Today and historically, the most legendary and successful team is the red Ferrari team, with their prancing horse emblem. They have counted many a legendary Grand Prix winning drivers to their team, such as Alberto Ascari, Juan-Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorne, Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna and most recently Michael Schumacher, who is currently creating his own legend. Enzo Ferrari created the Ferrari racing car in the late 1940s and won its first Grand Prix race in 1951 in Britain. Since 1950, Ferrari has won a staggering 13 Drivers’ World Championships.