Part 1: Manufacturers
There have been a number of car manufacturers that have competed
in Formula 1 in recent years, all with differing fortunes. 2012
will see only two teams being fully run by a car manufacturer,
Ferrari and Mercedes.
So what of the other manufacturers? What caused the likes of
Honda, Toyota and BMW to leave the sport in recent years, and why
do we only see two car companies competing in Formula 1, the
pinnacle of motorsport? Only the board of these car companies can
know the real reasons why they do not race in Formula 1, and
despite the recent departure of these manufacturers, the legacy of
their involvement is still being felt today.
There has always been teams that have come and gone through the
years, but it was in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the recent
manufacturer involvement took off, with Ford taking over Jackie
Stewart's team under the Jaguar banner, BMW partnering with
Williams, Mercedes buying a stake in McLaren and Toyota joining the
grid with a full factory effort, building the chassis and engines
out of their Cologne motorsport base. With the involvement of these
manufacturers came significant investment with millions being
pumped in to push development in order to get to the front of the
grid and compete with the like of Ferrari and McLaren. In the time
that BMW, Toyota and Honda competed with their works efforts in
Formula 1, the World Championship was only won by the Ferrari,
McLaren or Renault teams.
Most of these manufacturers saw Formula 1 as a marketing
exercise, pushing their brand at a time where Formula 1 ventured to
new territories with the likes of Singapore and China in order to
sell more road cars. Formula 1 is not about selling cars, it is
about racing in the highest level of world motorsport. Enzo Ferrari
famously started making and selling road cars in order to fund his
racing operations. The recent influx of manufacturers essentially
took the opposite stance, competing in Formula 1 in order to sell
road cars.
So how has this affected Formula 1 and the teams we see today?
Firstly we have the money. The millions pumped in by the
manufacturers and the sponsorship they were able to bring in to
their teams meant the massive increase in budgets for all the teams
in the paddock in order to keep up with these manufacturers. Within
the last decade this caused a number of smaller teams to cease
operations as they did not have the money or the resources of a car
manufacturer backing them. No longer do we see the likes of Prost,
Arrows, Jordan or Minardi competing, with these teams either being
shut down or bought out.
With the increased manufacturer presence also came the increase
in the politics between the teams, FIA and FOM as the manufacturers
combined to form the Grand Prix Manufacturers Association (the
GPMA, which was a precursor to the current FOTA body). The aim of
this body is to negotiate with the FIA to get greater revenue and
control over the sport, which has resulted in threats from the
teams that they will leave the sport if they don't get what they
think is fair.
The departure of these manufacturers has also meant that the
teams they backed suffered with the massive reductions in budgets
after losing the backing of a car company as well as the
sponsorship that would have been gained with the added attachment
of a car manufacturer. Williams have struggled since they lost
their partnership with BMW, not having a race win since 2004. The
departure of Honda and subsequent change to the Brawn team caused
huge reductions in the workforce and was a team devoid of any
significant sponsorship through the 2009 season (despite being one
of the fastest cars on the grid and eventual World Champions). This
team however was purchased by Mercedes Grand Prix who used this
basis as the set up for their full works effort. BMW's sale of the
Sauber team has been a similar situation to Brawn and Honda. Peter
Sauber bought back his team from BMW and turned his team back into
a privateer. This was also a car devoid of sponsorship during the
2010 season.
The 2011 season however did see the return of the Lotus name
(albeit in two different forms with different ownership, the
details of which have been well documented) and 2012 sees the
Renault team name disappear to be taken over by Lotus. Renault have
returned to solely being an engine supplier, something they did to
great success in the 1990s (and in recent years with Red Bull
Racing), but for the past two seasons, the team formerly known as
Renault was not being run by the French car manufacturer at all,
the team was sold to Genii Capital but for the prize funds the
former World Championship winning team were entitled to, the name
of the constructor was kept as Renault. Group Lotus joined this
team as a title sponsor and in 2012 takes over the constructors
name for the team, using the previous owner's Enstone base and
facilities. As with the current Mercedes AMG F1 team, this is not
quite a complete start up of an F1 team by a car manufacturer,
seeing as the personnel and facilities have all been in place under
previous team ownership.
Another manufacturer also joins Formula 1 in 2012, with Caterham
F1 Team taking over from last year's Team Lotus, having been bought
out by Tony Fernandes and sponsoring his existing team in 2011.
This is a slightly different situation to the other Lotus outfit.
With Tony Fernandes having to surrender the Team Lotus identity,
this team transfers to another one of his acquisitions in Caterham.
This team was founded from scratch for the 2010 season without any
manufacturer support and the Caterham link is essentially by name
only, as the team continues on the foundations laid out by the
former Team Lotus in 2011. Under the leadership of Tony Fernandes,
Caterham have set up a number of subsidiaries to tie the Formula 1
(and GP2) operations with the sports car manufacturer, so this
tie-up will be quite an interesting development between Formula 1
and the automotive industry as it is a new path that we haven't
seen before between a team and a manufacturer.
It is hard to say whether Formula 1 needs car manufacturers at
all. Ferrari has be synonymous with the sport since its inception
and I am sure will continue to do so (despite the constant threats
of walking away), but other than the Italian marque, which other
manufacturers would take a keen interest in competing in Formula 1
every year regardless of whether they were winning? Mercedes do
have their own team for now but only time and success will tell how
long they decide to keep this current operation going under their
own banner.
If a scenario occurred which meant Renault or Mercedes decided
to pull out of Formula 1, that would mean a number of teams losing
engine supply. Ferrari will still have that presence in Formula 1,
which would leave themselves, Cosworth and the recently announced
PURE (Propulsion Universelle et Recuperation d'Energie) founded by
Craig Pollock to pick up the pieces. If that happens, Formula 1
would move back to the time when teams were responsible for
building a chassis and engine supply was provided by a small
handful of engine builders (for example, during the era of the
Cosworth DFV in the late 1960s and early 1970s).
However, the car manufacturers need Formula 1, mainly to promote
their brand on a world stage. Some of these manufacturers have
proven that they are out to win, but the majority have left at the
first sign of losing interest with a bad car. The world economy in
recent years has not helped, and this has been cited as a reason to
depart from Formula 1.
Will any manufacturers return to Formula 1? If they do, how many
would want to endure the hard times of working their way up the
grid? Or will we end up seeing a repeat of the time the likes of
BMW and Honda came and went?
The problem is not the actual involvement by these manufacturers
in Formula 1, it is the lasting legacy that their brief
participation has caused, and it is one that the sport is still
slowly recovering from. Right now the sport is finely balanced.
Whether a new manufacturer can come in and be successful will
naturally take time but which of the current Formula 1 teams would
want to take that leap in signing with a new partner, especially
considering the change in engine regulations due in 2014? On the
other hand, if any of the current engine suppliers depart, where
would that leave those teams that use that particular manufacturers
engines? Would the remaining suppliers have the resources to add
additional teams to their supply? And perhaps more importantly,
would the FIA allow it?
The future of Formula 1 depends on the presence of independent
teams, without these the sport loses these teams which exist to
race. If car manufacturers come in and push the independents out
there is a risk that the sport will be left in the position similar
to 2009, where we almost saw a breakaway series by FOTA members
being launched for 2010. That is not to say that all manufacturers
should not compete in Formula 1 but there needs to be the right
balance between independent and manufacturer teams. Right now that
balance is present, but if that changes, then Formula 1 could find
itself in bigger problems again.