The Teams

Today the sport is dominated by the hybrid constructor-works teams. The days of racing your own car out of a lock-up at Silverstone are gone. The modern grand prix team are major international corporations with a budget of many, many millions. Sponsors providing the funding and major auto manufacturers provide the horsepower and the men, some of them former racers, attempt to steer their team to the title and onto glory.

Active Teams

Some teams like Williams and McLaren in the 1980s and 1990s seem incapable of producing a bad car while operations like Arrows have rarely got beyond the middle of the grid with their efforts.

New boys like Jaguar and Prost have shown that even the presence of a former champion in the team does not guarantee success, while only time will tell if the BAR boys can come good on their claims.

One of the key features of the Concorde Agreement, the contract that binds the FIA, FOCA and the teams, is that only 11 teams may contest the championship each season. These are 11 currently active within the sport.

Other teams earn their place for showcasing great drivers such as James Hunt in the Hesketh and Senna in the Toleman. Teams such as BRM, Ligier, Tyrrell and Maserati are owed their place among the greats for always being there and often leading, while Eagle deserve a place for producing one of the most stunningly beautiful cars ever to take to the tracks.

Standing head and shoulders above all these great names is Lotus - included here for all the reasons already mentioned and many more. If you only look at one team in this section - make it Lotus, because if you want to see innovative cars, championship winning seasons and great drivers Lotus has it all - and much, much more.

The fashion for one-man 'lock-up' operations based in a small garage began in Britain during the mid-fifties and survived in one form or another until the late 1970s although it could be argued that the likes of Eddie Jordan began with just such an operation as late as 1991.

However these are the teams that ran their operation on a shoestring, often funded by nothing more than start money. Despite this they produced some excellent examples of engineering on a an incredibly tight budgets. Alta began as engine suppliers before branching out into chassis production, while others such as de Klerk, LDS and Eifelland simply modified existing off the shelf models and went racing. A third group, mainly the German operations managed to enjoy limited factory support from the likes of BMW.

Whatever their success, or lack of it, the fact that this type of team is no more is sad, although in light of the increased role of commerce within the sport, not surprising.

Recent years have seen major motor manufacturers expressing a greater interest in Formula 1. With slogan s like 'Racing improves the breed' and 'Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday' as valid today as it was fifty years ago it is easy to understand why the car makers want in of Formula 1. Hopefully the likes of Jaguar will enjoy greater success the ten teams on this list.

Also included are the grid-fillers. These are the teams that almost fell over before they started. Although they sometimes qualified for a race the results were usually not worth waiting around for. These are the team with designs that could not even see the pace off in the distance, let alone get on it.

Some, like the Kaushen failed because it was simply a terrible design born in an age when aerodynamics were flourishing. Others like the Life and Maki operations were simply underfunded. Alongside them is the experimental Fry Special - intended for Formula 2 but run in a Formula 1 race more by accident than intention.

Regardless of their lack of success all these machines have their place in Grand Prix History - even if it is at the bottom of the list.