British American Racing

History

BAT had been involved in Formula One for many years, with several of its brands being displayed on F1 cars run by various teams. In 1997, the corporation was convinced by Craig Pollock to purchase a Formula One team. This team would be Tyrrell, and BAT and Pollock would use £30,000,000 (approximately $47 million U.S.) to acquire the team during the offseason of that year. The team officially was still Tyrrell in 1998 before it became BAR the following year.

Related Topics:
1997 - Craig Pollock - Tyrrell

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A poor start

Pollock was the team's principal and was able to lure World Champion Jacques Villeneuve away from Williams for the 1999 season with a lucrative contract. Pollock had managed him throughout his racing career so perhaps it was only natural that he signed on. Villeneuve was joined by F1 rookie Ricardo Zonta. The car's chassis was built by with the help of Reynard Motorsport and the car ran on Supertec (rebadged Renault) engines. Pollock bragged about how successful the team would be in its maiden year.

Related Topics:
Jacques Villeneuve - Williams - Ricardo Zonta - Reynard Motorsport - Supertec - Renault

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However, the team was an outright disaster and failed to score a point in the Constructors' Championship. Perennial minnows Minardi were even able to finish above BAR in the Constructors' Championship. Villeneuve started the year with 11 straight retirements, and failed to finish a race until the Belgian Grand Prix that August, while Zonta missed three races due to an injury and managed only a best finish of 8th himself. Adding insult to injury, figuratively speaking, Mika Salo, who filled in for Zonta while he was hurt, provided the team with its best finish of 7th.

Related Topics:
Minardi - Belgian Grand Prix - Mika Salo

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Even off the track, BAR had a terrible year. The team's plan to run its cars with two separate liveries (to enable BAT to advertise two different cigarette brands) was highly controversial, and the FIA deemed the plan to be illegal. To get around this, BAR ran "dual livery" cars, with one side of the car painted the white and red of BAT's Lucky Strike brand, and the other side of the car painted in blue and yellow to advertise 555. Critics derided the cars for being ugly, and the scheme was a failure, with BAR reverting to a more traditional style of livery for 2000 onwards.

Related Topics:
FIA - Lucky Strike - 555 - 2000

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Honda's return to F1

Despite the disastrous season in 1999, BAR still managed to persuade Honda to supply them with engines in 2000. It was the first time Honda had been directly involved in Formula One since 1992. BAR did not have exclusive use of Honda engines, though, as Jordan Grand Prix were using Mugen Hondas. The following year Jordan were given proper Honda engines, but the engine manufacturers could not supply two teams forever. This prompted a battle between BAR and Jordan for the use of Honda engines in the long term.

Related Topics:
Honda - 1992 - Jordan Grand Prix - Mugen

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In 2000 the new Honda driven BAR did show improvement, proving to be more reliable and slightly more competitive, but the team still only had a best finish of 4th. While it was a marked improvement on its first year, with the team finishing tied for 4th in the points, it was still not the kind of year envisioned by team owners. Villeneuve reached the podium twice in 2001 for BAR, but neither he nor new teammate Olivier Panis did enough for the team, and it led to the sacking of Craig Pollock from the team.

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Upswing under Richards

David Richards took over as principal of the team but the story has been the same for BAR, with Villeneuve still struggling to score points and Panis also failing to reach expectations. However, BAR had won the battle against Jordan, whose performances had become even worse. From 2003 BAR had exclusive use of the Honda engines, and were able to work more closely with its engine partners.

Related Topics:
David Richards - 2003

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BAR had brought in Jenson Button to replace Panis for the 2003 Formula One season. Villeneuve's failure to produce eventually led to him being replaced before the end of the season by Japanese driver Takuma Sato (Honda likes its teams to field Japanese drivers as it leads to publicity in the car manufacturer's home country). Despite Villeneuve's lack of performance, BAR as a whole was on the upswing, with Jenson Button leading a Grand Prix for the first time (albeit briefly) at the 2003 United States Grand Prix. The 2003 chassis was considered to be one of the best in the field, but the team struggled due to being on Bridgestone tires. In the off-season, they changed to rival tire company Michelin, in the hope to release the potential of their car.

Related Topics:
Jenson Button - 2003 Formula One season - Japan - Takuma Sato - Honda - 2003 United States Grand Prix - Bridgestone - Michelin

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Peak in 2004

Early in 2004, the team saw a further upswing in its fortunes, with Button scoring many podium finishes aswell as their first pole position at San Marino. The Honda RA004E engine was reputed to produce slightly over 960bhp in Suzuka Special form to close the year, and was certainly one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful engine in pitlane. In the end, BAR finished the season in 2nd place in the Constructors' Championship, beating every team except for Ferrari. Despite this, BAR's first win still eludes them to this day.

Related Topics:
2004 - Pole position - San Marino - Ferrari

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During the course of the 2004 season a dispute with WilliamsF1, in which both teams believed they had a valid contract for Jenson Button in 2005, threatened to overshadow BAR's startling on-track performance. However both the team and Button himself showed professionalism by putting these matters behind them when they were racing. The matter with Button went to the Contract Recognition Board, which found in favour of BAR. Button was to drive for BAR in 2005, but signed a contract to join Williams in 2006.

Related Topics:
WilliamsF1 - 2005 - Contract Recognition Board

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With increasing restrictions being placed upon tobacco companies' opportunities to advertise in Formula One, rumours have suggested that BAT would try to sell the team. In mid-November 2004, BAR announced that Honda had purchased 45% of the team. As a part of the deal, David Richards left his job as team principal to be replaced with Nick Fry.

Related Topics:
BAT - 2004 - Honda - Nick Fry

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2005: Poor start and controversy

The start of the season didn't go according to plan for BAR, as they struggled at the "flyaway" races at the start of the season. Just as they had become competitive, at San Marino, BAR Honda was disqualified for running with illegal cars. The allegation was that the cars have been able to go with a weight below 600 kg (1323 lb), the minimum weight required for a Formula 1 car. BAR disputed this saying that the engine requires a minimum of 6 kg of fuel to work, keeping them above the minimum weight. Their interpretation of the rules was that this limit applies only during the race, not during the post-race scrutineering. The FIA, and later the court, disagreed. In addition to the disqualification, the team was banned for two races, a period which included the lucrative Monaco Grand Prix. The team initially indicated that they planned to fight the decision before a regular civil court but later decided to accept the verdict. Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, saw the result as very lenient as they had wanted the team to be banned for the remainder of the season. They were, however, unable to prove deliberate intent to cheat (Official Court of Appeal Decision (PDF)).

Related Topics:
San Marino - Monaco Grand Prix - Max Mosley

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When BAR returned at the European Grand Prix the team struggled to find its feet. In stark contrast to the previous season, BAR failed to score a single point until the midway point of the season, at the 2005 French Grand Prix. Takuma Sato has had a particularly poor season, scoring just one point as of the 2005 Turkish Grand Prix.

Related Topics:
European Grand Prix - 2005 French Grand Prix - 2005 Turkish Grand Prix

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Honda is aiming to have a race-reliable Super Suzuka Special engine for Shanghai capable of 1000bhp, to close the 3.0 liter chapter in F1 history on top. BAR-Honda are to make their 100th race start in the 2005 Japanese Grand Prix since their partnership began back in 2000.

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At the end of 2005 Honda will obtain 100% ownership of BAR from BAT completing their ambition to become a fully owned and operated Honda Grand Prix team for the first time since 1965.

Related Topics:
2005 - Honda - BAT - 1965

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