As Formula 1 heads into a three-week break ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Auto123.com has gone through the history books to dig out some of Formula 1’s most hopeless teams which can only be described as ‘ambitious but rubbish’.
The following, then, are a selection of the underwhelming, the rushed, the disorganized, the outright dangerous, the cash-strapped and the downright sinister.
5
Jaguar Racing - 2000-2004
Much was made of Jaguar’s entry into Formula 1 after it purchased Stewart Ford for the 2000 season. Extra funding, big name management as well some seriously good drivers were supposed to push what was now Ford’s own team into Formula 1’s big league, but none of this mattered by the time the team was bought out by Red Bull at the end of 2004. Jaguar’s time in Formula 1 was underwhelming to say the least; despite big bucks, the Big Cat’s F1 tenure was messy. Slow and unreliable cars, mostly Macchiavelian management and a failed attempt to lure Adrian Newey away from McLaren marked the team’s history and in four years, the team’s best on track results were two third places in Monaco and a best constructor’s position of seventh in 2003 and 2004.
4
Coloni F1 - 1987-1991
On paper, Coloni’s F1 effort didn’t seem bad; Enzo Coloni, an Italian Formula 3 champion would act as team principal and at the end of 1988, a season which saw the team poach AGS figureheads Christian Vanderpleyn, Michel Costa and Frederic Dhainhaut, Coloni would be sold to Fuji Heavy Industries as a platform for Subaru to enter Formula 1 with a 12-cylinder version of its boxer engine. However, the team was frankly embarrassing – albeit lovable - and in its four-year life, managed to rack up the record for most Did Not Qualify/Did Not Pre-Qualifys in the sport’s history. Furthermore, in its last three years of existence, the team entered 46 races and failed to finish one. However, to the team’s credit, it turned up weekend in, weekend out to every race in its final two years and operated on a shoe-string of a budget, with rumours circulating that during the 1990 season, Coloni was unable to pay his staff.
3
MasterCard Lola - 1997
Like Coloni, Lola’s entry – in theory at least – didn’t seem bad. Afterall, the Italian company had a good pedigree in building IndyCar chassis and it had MasterCard as a title sponsor. Making the step to Formula 1, then, seemed a natural progression. The team was originally set to make its debut in 1998, but given MasterCard had put in some good cash, someone at the plastic card company had other ideas and forced Lola to make its entry a year earlier and to its credit it did. In doing so however, it made a pig of a machine.
The team’s T97 was basically a lightened IndyCar and had not undergone any on-track or wind tunnel testing which resulted in a car which had too much drag and was woefully slow; so much so, in its first and only race, the Australian Grand Prix, its drivers Ricardo Rosset and Vicenzo Sospiri qualified 15 seconds off of pole winner Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams. The team closed its doors after this one outing and in the process almost destroyed Lola thanks to debts of around £6mn.
2
LIFE - 1990
Any car that is described by its designer as a ‘time bomb’ should ring alarm bells. However, this didn’t deter the LIFE F1 team, and in a flagrant disregard for health and safety, it purchased this death trap from FIRST’s failed Formula 1 entry as it tried to bring W12 technology into the sport. It managed it too, but in doing so, it made the car even more dangerous as the chassis changes made to accommodate the W12 unit highly exposed the driver in the case of an accident. However, none of this mattered in the end as the car was so slow due to its power output was around 375bhp, which was around half of the McLaren Hondas. As a result, it failed to qualify for any of the 14 races it took part in and at the San Marino Grand Prix, was 424 seconds off of pole. The team withdrew from F1 with two races remaining of the 1990 season.
1
Andrea Moda - 1992
As Benetton were making good of their opportunity in F1 around this time, Andrea Sassetti, the owner of the Italian shoe manufacturer, Andrea Moda, looked to his fellow fashionable compatriots and thought “I can do that” so he bought the Coloni F1 team. However, it quickly became apparently that he couldn’t and the team was nothing short of an omnishambles.
The team’s track record was appalling as – amongst other things - it was banned from the season opener by failing to raise the $100,000 deposit from new teams and failed to reach the French Grand Prix as its lorries got stuck in traffic. In addition to the team being poorly organized and having a car that was around 15-seconds off the pace, there was a sinister side to the team, with the team openly mistreating driver Perry McCarthy as a result of a disagreement with Sassetti.
This reached a new low at the Belgian Grand Prix, with McCarthy hurtling through Eau Rough with a flexing steering arm which the team allegedly knew about. That same weekend, Sassetti was arrested for forging invoices and once race later, Andrea Moda was kicked out of F1 for bringing the sport into disrepute.
The following, then, are a selection of the underwhelming, the rushed, the disorganized, the outright dangerous, the cash-strapped and the downright sinister.
5
Jaguar Racing - 2000-2004
Much was made of Jaguar’s entry into Formula 1 after it purchased Stewart Ford for the 2000 season. Extra funding, big name management as well some seriously good drivers were supposed to push what was now Ford’s own team into Formula 1’s big league, but none of this mattered by the time the team was bought out by Red Bull at the end of 2004. Jaguar’s time in Formula 1 was underwhelming to say the least; despite big bucks, the Big Cat’s F1 tenure was messy. Slow and unreliable cars, mostly Macchiavelian management and a failed attempt to lure Adrian Newey away from McLaren marked the team’s history and in four years, the team’s best on track results were two third places in Monaco and a best constructor’s position of seventh in 2003 and 2004.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |
4
Coloni F1 - 1987-1991
On paper, Coloni’s F1 effort didn’t seem bad; Enzo Coloni, an Italian Formula 3 champion would act as team principal and at the end of 1988, a season which saw the team poach AGS figureheads Christian Vanderpleyn, Michel Costa and Frederic Dhainhaut, Coloni would be sold to Fuji Heavy Industries as a platform for Subaru to enter Formula 1 with a 12-cylinder version of its boxer engine. However, the team was frankly embarrassing – albeit lovable - and in its four-year life, managed to rack up the record for most Did Not Qualify/Did Not Pre-Qualifys in the sport’s history. Furthermore, in its last three years of existence, the team entered 46 races and failed to finish one. However, to the team’s credit, it turned up weekend in, weekend out to every race in its final two years and operated on a shoe-string of a budget, with rumours circulating that during the 1990 season, Coloni was unable to pay his staff.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |
3
MasterCard Lola - 1997
Like Coloni, Lola’s entry – in theory at least – didn’t seem bad. Afterall, the Italian company had a good pedigree in building IndyCar chassis and it had MasterCard as a title sponsor. Making the step to Formula 1, then, seemed a natural progression. The team was originally set to make its debut in 1998, but given MasterCard had put in some good cash, someone at the plastic card company had other ideas and forced Lola to make its entry a year earlier and to its credit it did. In doing so however, it made a pig of a machine.
The team’s T97 was basically a lightened IndyCar and had not undergone any on-track or wind tunnel testing which resulted in a car which had too much drag and was woefully slow; so much so, in its first and only race, the Australian Grand Prix, its drivers Ricardo Rosset and Vicenzo Sospiri qualified 15 seconds off of pole winner Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams. The team closed its doors after this one outing and in the process almost destroyed Lola thanks to debts of around £6mn.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |
2
LIFE - 1990
Any car that is described by its designer as a ‘time bomb’ should ring alarm bells. However, this didn’t deter the LIFE F1 team, and in a flagrant disregard for health and safety, it purchased this death trap from FIRST’s failed Formula 1 entry as it tried to bring W12 technology into the sport. It managed it too, but in doing so, it made the car even more dangerous as the chassis changes made to accommodate the W12 unit highly exposed the driver in the case of an accident. However, none of this mattered in the end as the car was so slow due to its power output was around 375bhp, which was around half of the McLaren Hondas. As a result, it failed to qualify for any of the 14 races it took part in and at the San Marino Grand Prix, was 424 seconds off of pole. The team withdrew from F1 with two races remaining of the 1990 season.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |
1
Andrea Moda - 1992
As Benetton were making good of their opportunity in F1 around this time, Andrea Sassetti, the owner of the Italian shoe manufacturer, Andrea Moda, looked to his fellow fashionable compatriots and thought “I can do that” so he bought the Coloni F1 team. However, it quickly became apparently that he couldn’t and the team was nothing short of an omnishambles.
The team’s track record was appalling as – amongst other things - it was banned from the season opener by failing to raise the $100,000 deposit from new teams and failed to reach the French Grand Prix as its lorries got stuck in traffic. In addition to the team being poorly organized and having a car that was around 15-seconds off the pace, there was a sinister side to the team, with the team openly mistreating driver Perry McCarthy as a result of a disagreement with Sassetti.
This reached a new low at the Belgian Grand Prix, with McCarthy hurtling through Eau Rough with a flexing steering arm which the team allegedly knew about. That same weekend, Sassetti was arrested for forging invoices and once race later, Andrea Moda was kicked out of F1 for bringing the sport into disrepute.
 |
| Photo: WRi2 |