Origins of current F1 teams

[Supersam83]

Just thought I'd put together a list of the origins for the current 10 teams that compete in F1 for anyone who is interested.


Sauber (1993-2006) -> BMW Sauber (2006-2009) -> Sauber (2009-2017) -> Alfa Romeo Sauber (2018) -> Alfa Romeo Racing (2019- )


Minardi (1985-2005) -> Scuderia Toro Rosso (2006-2019) -> Scuderia AlphaTauri (2020- )


Toleman Motorsport (1981-1985) -> Benetton (1986-2001) -> Renault F1 (2002-2010) -> Lotus Renault GP (2011) -> Lotus F1 (2012-2015) -> Renault Sport F1 (2016-2020) -> Alpine F1 (2021- )


Jordan Grand Prix (1991-2005) -> Midland F1 (2006) -> Spyker F1 (2007) -> Force India (2008-2018) -> Racing Point Force India (2019) -> Racing Point (2020) -> Aston Martin (2021- )


Scuderia Ferrari (1950- )


Haas F1 (2016- )


McLaren Automotive (1963-1980) -> McLaren Racing (1981- )


Tyrrell Racing (1970-1998) -> British American Racing (1999) -> BAR Honda (2000-2005) -> Honda Racing F1 (2006-2008) -> Brawn GP (2009) -> Mercedes GP (2010- )


Stewart Grand Prix (1997-1999) -> Jaguar Racing (2000-2004) -> Red Bull Racing (2005- )


Williams Grand Prix (1977- )


Record for different company ownership is 7 which is joint between Aston Martin and Alpine.

Originals are Ferrari, Williams and Haas.

[CanAm]

McLaren started off as Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, but didn’t enter F1 until the 1966 season.

As far as F1 is concerned, Scuderia Ferrari started in 1948, but was formed way back before then.

[LaurasOtherHalf]

Was going to say, McLaren Automotive is nothing to do with the F1 team, it’s a rebranding of McLaren Cars which is the road car division.

[BarbaricAvatar]

I think i'd be inclined to say Williams died last year and this years concern is nothing to do with it outside of name. Plus Midland ran the Jordan team in 2005 before rebranding it the following season.

[Eric Mc]

That is very useful as it is becoming harder to remember where the current teams came from.

One correction I'd make is that Ferrari as a Scuderia (team) is quite a bit older than 1950. Scuderia Ferrari was set up by Enzo Ferrari in 1929.
Initially, he ran ex Alfa Romeo team cars as Alfa had withdrawn from Grand Prix racing and Ferrari, who was a former driver, wanted to keep the team together.

Ferrari started building their own Grand Prix cars in 1948.

Here's a picture of the Scuderia Ferrari cars lined up in 1932.

[Eric Mc]

I would also add that the team with the longest history in Grand Prix racing has to be Mercedes. They started entering car races in 1901 so were in at the very start of Grand Prix racing (which started in 1906). They were extremely successful right up to 1914 when World War 1 brought racing in Europe to a halt.

They then re-emerged for a brief period in the 1920s. They then came back again in the mid 1930s and were the most successful Grand Prix marque up until 1939 when World War 2 stopped play.

They came back again in the mid 1950s and won the World Championship in 1954 and 1955 (and many sports car races too).

They then came back again in the 1990s in sports car racing and initially as an engine supplier to F1 teams. And then came the current team with its success.

[entropy]

I'm pretty sure BAR/BAR Honda were under the same ownership of British American Tobacco. As I remember it Craig Pollock originally ran the team but was replaced by Dave Richards and Prodrive to run the team, Richards then recommended Nick Fry to take over the last days of BAT ownership until Honda took full ownership.

[twister]

I'd presume that the dates given here are based around the focus of this thread being *F1* teams, rather than simply motorsport teams in general - as F1 didn't start until 1950, having the timelines start from there seems appropriate.

[CanAm]

twister said:

I'd presume that the dates given here are based around the focus of this thread being *F1* teams, rather than simply motorsport teams in general - as F1 didn't start until 1950, having the timelines start from there seems appropriate.

Don’t listen to everything the FIA tell you. F1 started in 1946 with the Turin GP; the FIA World Championship started in 1950

[Eric Mc]

Yes - the assumption that F1 started in 1950s really annoys me. To me, F1 and Grand Prix racing are synonymous with each other - they cannot be separated. If you are going to talk about the history of F1 you should talk about the history of Grand Prix racing and, if you REALLY want to limit the discussion to F1, then at least get the date of the start of the formula correct.

The original F1 formula was, in fact, the pre-war Voiturette formula - which were elegible to and did race in pre war Grand Prix (ERAs and the Alfetta 158, for example) , so that some of the cars and teams that Twister wants to restrict to his erroneous 1950 start date were active 1930s Grand Prix cars and teams.

This especially relates to Scuderia Ferrari and to some extent, Mercedes.

[CanAm]

Indeed - pre-war Grand Prix racing was to all intents and purposes Formula 1, just under different rules. Just as the rules changed in 1954, 1961 and 1966 etc.

[Crafty_]

You could also argue that the roots of McLaren also lie in Project Four, as I remember it McLaren was purchased and merged with Project Four but kept the McLaren name.

[carl_w]

Didn't Benetton and Ligier do a switcheroo at some point? Benetton bought Ligier for its Renault engine supplies, and I remember in the off-seasons seeing Michael Schumacher in Ligier overalls at least once.

[ralphrj]

carl_w said:

Didn't Benetton and Ligier do a switcheroo at some point? Benetton bought Ligier for its Renault engine supplies, and I remember in the off-seasons seeing Michael Schumacher in Ligier overalls at least once.

Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw bought Ligier during the 1994 season and transferred the Renault engine supply to Benetton for the 1995 season.

Schumacher drove the 94 Ligier at a test in the off-season to get some experience of the Renault engine. However, I think his overalls were plain white.

[ralphrj]

Crafty_ said:

You could also argue that the roots of McLaren also lie in Project Four, as I remember it McLaren was purchased and merged with Project Four but kept the McLaren name.

Correct. The F1 entry was transferred to the "new" McLaren and the old company that Bruce McLaren created was dissolved.

[LukeBrown66]

Walkinshaw tried to buy Lotus aswell at one point according to one Mr Herbert, mainly for the Mugen deal which he got later on anyway, but there was certainly interest from Tom when they were struggling in 94, but the debts were too much, he did end up getting Johnny though at the end of the year.

[thegreenhell]

Eric Mc said:

I would also add that the team with the longest history in Grand Prix racing has to be Mercedes. They started entering car races in 1901 so were in at the very start of Grand Prix racing (which started in 1906). They were extremely successful right up to 1914 when World War 1 brought racing in Europe to a halt.

Renault were also in it right at the beginning, winning races as early as 1901 and winning that first GP in 1906.

[Soloman Dodd]

Not to forget that Williams changed hands last year.

[ralphrj]

LukeBrown66 said:

Walkinshaw tried to buy Lotus aswell at one point according to one Mr Herbert, mainly for the Mugen deal which he got later on anyway, but there was certainly interest from Tom when they were struggling in 94, but the debts were too much, he did end up getting Johnny though at the end of the year.

Has Herbert got an autobiography? I would love to know if the rumours of Dennis trying to buyout his contract in 1992 were true. The rumour was that Dennis settled for Hakkinen as Mika's contract was easier to break than Herbert's.

Herbert did a hop, skip and a jump in the later stages of the 1994 season, racing for Lotus for the first 13 races, then switching to Ligier for a single race at Jerez before finally moving to Benetton for the last 2 rounds in place of Jos Verstappen.

[Jonny_]

Weirdly I was discussing the history of some of the current F1 teams with a mate a few days back. Could have done with this thread as between us we were struggling!

Would be interesting to cobble together a list of the teams that are now totally defunct, as opposed to taken over and renamed, e.g. Arrows and Caterham.