Jaguar

Jaguar Racing was a Formula One team that competed in the FIA Formula One World Championship from 2000 to 2004. It was formed from the purchase by Ford of Jackie Stewart's Stewart Grand Prix Formula One team in June 1999. Ford renamed the team Jaguar Racing as part of its global marketing operations to promote their Jaguar premium car company. However, during the years of Ford's ownership, the team was unable to revive its performances of 1999.

The team in 2000 was managed by Wolfgang Reitzle, who was then head of Ford's Premier Automotive Group. The extra funding and publicity brought by becoming Ford's own team were obvious from the first race of the year. The team hired 1999 world championship runner up Eddie Irvine to partner former Stewart driver Johnny Herbert in an all UK team. Unfortunately this did not guarantee further success. The results that season did not match the results that Stewart had been able to achieve in 1999. Reitzle stepped down and was replaced by American Racing champion and successful team owner Bobby Rahal for 2001.

2001 did not see an improvement in results, and appointment of 3 time FIA F1 World Champion Niki Lauda in the middle of the year did not help team morale, with the team sliding further back in the field. An abortive attempt to bring Mclaren's current technical director Adrian Newey to Jaguar further destabilised the team, and conflict between both Rahal and Lauda led to Rahal's resignation.

2002 was even worse under Lauda's stewardship, with only a resurgence later in the year in terms of results. Ford's board of directors were beginning to have major issues with the costs and benefits of running the team in Formula One, especially as it did not feature the parent company brand. Funding was reduced for 2003. Lauda and 70 other staff were made redundant, and a 2 year timeframe was given to show possible benefits.

2003 saw an improvement of form for the team, directed by John Hogan, as it benefited from good management and a more efficient usage of resources (in particular, using a wind tunnel near the factory compared to one in California). 2004 saw a stabilisation of results, but the team was unable to challenge for points on a consistent basis. Jaguar's Formula One parent company, Ford, issued a polite ultimatum as part of a reduction in sport involvement internationally. In particular, because Jaguar did not advertise the core Ford brand, there was little return of value from the enormous amount of money invested, so funding was reduced from Ford itself. Ford chose to sell the operation near the end of 2004 despite a more consistent showing in its previous two years. In mid-November 2004, energy drink company Red Bull confirmed that they had purchased the Jaguar Formula One team from Ford as an ongoing outfit. The new team is named Red Bull Racing and used the chassis and engine that would have been Jaguar's 2005 Formula 1 challenger for its first season.

The Jaguar R5 being driven by Mark Webber in 2004 - the team's last season in F1.Ironically, in Jaguar's final season, the team received the most publicity when two of the team's mechanics, having won an inflatable donkey from the movie Shrek from a give-away on a soda bottle, photographed it around the paddock at several races and set up a website (donkeydoesf1.co.uk) for the pictures. After the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, much of the sport's management, and every driver except Michael Schumacher signed the donkey, and the mechanics announced their intention to auction it on eBay and donate the proceeds to charity. For the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix, Jaguar's cars were fitted with newly designed nose cones to promote the film Ocean's Twelve. Steinmetz diamonds worth in excess of $250,000 USD were attached to the nose of each car, one of which allegedly went missing after Christian Klien's first lap crash.

In summary, Jaguar's attempt at Formula One on the track was below standard for reported amount of money that Ford put in. Zero wins, zero pole positions, two podiums, a handful of points. Off the track the team attracted publicity for the wrong reasons. In Jaguar's five-year existence, it withstood three management shakeups, often with public conflicts between the individuals involved and only toward the end of its existence did it achieve a stable management and technical setup. It was a sad end to what people were predicting in 1999 to be the Ferrari team in 'British Racing Green'.

Drivers included Eddie Irvine from 2000 - 2002, Johnny Herbert in 2000, Luciano Burti for a few races in 2001 and the Austrian GP in 2000, Pedro de la Rosa in 2001 and 2002, Antônio Pizzonia in 2003 until Hockenheim, Mark Webber in 2003 and 2004, Justin Wilson from Hockenheim to the end of 2003, and Christian Klien in 2004.

Toyota

Toyota F1 is a Formula One team owned by Japanese car manufacturer Toyota and based in Cologne, Germany. Toyota announced their plans to participate in F1 in 1999, and after extensive testing with their TF101 initial car, the team made their debut in 2002. The new team has grown from Toyota's long standing European Toyota Motorsport organisation, which has previously competed in the World Rally Championship and the 24 hours of Le Mans. Despite a point in their first ever race , Toyota F1 have not yet won a grand prix, their best finish being a couple of 2nd place finishes during the 2005 season, when it achieved three podiums and a pole position, as well as finishing fourth in the world constructors' championship with 88 points.

Toyota has drawn criticism for their lack of results, especially after the 2006 Formula One season, when the team's best result was 3rd place in the Australian Grand Prix. Toyota is an extremely well funded team, being a big manufacturer, and despite this coupled with their huge ambitions, strong results have never been consistent.
The team's drivers in 2007 were Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher. Schumacher has not been signed to continue in 2008. The team tried to sign up double world champion Fernando Alonso, but the Spaniard declined[citation needed]. The team have signed reigning GP2 Champion Timo Glock for 2008.

Honda

Honda Racing F1 Team is a Formula One team run by Japanese car manufacturer Honda. The team is based in Brackley, United Kingdom, and uses the facilities of former British American Racing, which Honda fully acquired in 2005. Engines are built at the Honda R&D facility in Tochigi, Japan.
Ross Brawn was recently appointed team principal. Honda's current drivers are Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team began by using the same predominantly white livery that Honda used in the sport during the 1960s, but has since switched to a livery dubbed the "Earth Car", with minimal corporate advertising, and depicting the planet earth and space.

Early success
Restored 1965 Honda RA272, the first Japanese car ever to win in Formula One. The car is painted in the racing colors of Japan.
Honda surprised everyone by entering Formula One Grand Prix racing in 1963, just three years after producing their first road car. They began development of the RA271 in 1962 and startled the European-dominated Formula One garages with their all-Japanese factory team (except for American drivers Ronnie Bucknum and Richie Ginther). More startling was the fact that Honda built their own engine and chassis, something only Ferrari and BRM - of the other teams still running in 1962 - had previously done.

In only their second year of competition, Honda reached the coveted top step of the podium with Ginther's win in the RA272 at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix. For the new 3.0L rules from 1966, Honda introduced the Honda RA273. Although the RA273's engine was a well-designed, ~360bhp V12, the car was let down by a relatively heavy and unwieldy in-house chassis. Honda returned to the winner's circle in 1967 with the new Honda RA300, driven by John Surtees. This won the 1967 Italian Grand Prix in only its first F1 race. The RA300 chassis was partly designed by Lola in the UK, and this resulted in the car being nicknamed the Hondola by the motoring press. Unfortunately this was the last truly competitive car that Honda produced for F1 in the 1960s; the following year's Honda RA301 only reached the podium twice and Honda withdrew from F1 at the end of the 1969 Formula One season.
Honda backed up their Grand Prix victories by dominating the 1966 Formula 2 season, winning every race that year with Jack Brabham's team. Honda competed as a constructor in 47 Grands Prix in the 1960s.

McLaren

McLaren, founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren (1937–1970), is a Formula One team based in Woking, Surrey, UK. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and Canadian-American Challenge Cup. The current team was formed by the merger of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing with Project Four Racing in 1981. The team is managed by Ron Dennis and is part of McLaren Racing, a member of the McLaren Group. Engines are supplied by McLaren shareholder Mercedes-Benz through Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines.

McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won over 150 races, 11 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. Autosport judges McLaren to have "bigger, more sophisticated" technical resources than any other team and a resultant higher development rate throughout a season. However it states that "operationally it is not as slick [as Ferrari], and this typically shows during moments of high stress. In such moments it's a team with a tendency to rely too much on its vast technical databank and not enough on the intuition of a single person making the call."

BMW Sauber

BMW Sauber F1 is a Formula One team with bases in Hinwil, Switzerland and Munich, Germany. The team was formed at the end of 2005 as a result of a takeover of the existing Sauber Formula One team by German car manufacturer BMW. The team scored two podium finishes and came fifth in 2006, its first season in Formula One. This was followed by a 2nd place in 2007 after the McLaren team had been excluded from the championship. The team gained its first win in 2008.

Sauber
Peter Sauber built his first car in 1970. Sauber competed in sports car racing during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989 it became the Mercedes-Benz works team, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1989 and the World Sportscar Championship in 1989 and 1990.
The Swiss team entered Formula One in the 1993 season, with support from Mercedes. The partnership with Mercedes lasted until 1994. Sauber used Ferrari engines, badged as Petronas, from 1997 to 2005. Sauber never scored a race win, pole position, or fastest lap in Formula One. The team's most successful season was 2001, when it finished fourth in the constructors' championship.

BMW Motorsport
German car manufacturer BMW competed in Formula One as an engine supplier from 1982 - 1987 and from 2000 - 2005. Nelson Piquet won the 1983 drivers' world championship in a Brabham-BMW. During 2005 BMW ended its engine supply agreement with the Williams team and bought Sauber. Peter Sauber remained with the team as a consultant.

BMW Sauber F1
BMW Sauber put "Thank You" messages towards Michael Schumacher on the back of their cars for the German's last Grand Prix in Brazil.
For the 2006 season BMW Sauber signed Nick Heidfeld from Williams to be their lead driver, while 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve had his existing Sauber contract confirmed. Pole Robert Kubica was signed as the team's third driver. The team continued to use Sauber's facilities, mostly for chassis construction and wind tunnel testing, while BMW's headquarters in Munich were responsible for building the new P86 V8 engine.
Former Sauber title sponsor Petronas renewed their contract with the new team, as a simple team sponsor, as did Credit Suisse. For the new season BMW Sauber announced a technical partnership with Intel, claiming that it will eventually lead to technological improvements available on BMW road cars. The new livery, unveiled in Valencia on 17 January 2006, was the traditional BMW blue and white with a hint of red.

Jacques Villeneuve scored the team's first points with a seventh place finish at the 2006 Malaysian Grand Prix, after Heidfeld retired from fifth with an engine failure late in the race. Over the first two thirds of the season the drivers picked up points with a succession of seventh and eighth place finishes. The team ran a radical "twin towers" aero enhancement on the front of the car for the race in Magny-Cours, France, which was meant to direct airflow to the rear and thus improve performance. This unconventional add-on was promptly banned by the FIA as it was adjudged to impede the drivers' vision and thus compromise safety.

Heidfeld scored the team's first podium at the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix from 10th on the grid. Kubica stood in for Villeneuve, BMW stating that Villeneuve couldn't drive due to medical complications following his accident at the German Grand Prix. Kubica finished seventh, although he was later disqualified for an underweight car. After the Hungarian Grand Prix, BMW announced that Kubica would complete the season for the Swiss team, spelling the end of former world champion Villeneuve's F1 career.

Kubica scored BMW Sauber's second podium of the season at the Italian Grand Prix, after running in third place for most of the race and leading briefly during the first round of pit stops. Heidfeld struggled in the race and barely earned a point by finishing eighth. The team's fifth place in the constructor's championship was cemented by Heidfeld's two further points at the 2006 Chinese Grand Prix, and Toyota's early double retirement from the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street legal vehicles in 1947 as Ferrari S.p.A.. Throughout its history, the company has been noted for its continued participation in racing, especially in Formula One, where it has largely enjoyed great success, especially during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, late 1990s, and 2000s. After years of financial struggles, Enzo Ferrari sold the company's sports car division to the Fiat group in 1969 to ensure continued financial backing. Enzo Ferrari retained control of the racing division until his death in 1988 at the age of 90. Earlier that year he had overseen the launch of the Ferrari F40; the last new Ferrari to be launched before his death, and arguably one of the most famous supercars ever made. Ferrari also has an internally managed merchandising line that licenses many products bearing the Ferrari brand, including eyewear, pens, pencils, electronic goods, perfume, clothing, high-tech bicycles, cell phones, and even laptop computers. Financial Times named Ferrari number one on its 2007 list of the 100 Best Workplaces in Europe

Formula One
Scuderia Ferrari won its most recent Formula One title in 2007, with Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa at the wheel. The Scuderia joined the Formula One World Championship in the first year of its existence, 1950. José Froilán González gave the team its first victory at the 1951 British Grand Prix. Alberto Ascari gave Ferrari its first Drivers Championship a year later. Ferrari is the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful: the team holds nearly every Formula One record. As of 2007, the team's records include 15 World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007) 15 World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007), 201 Grand Prix victories, 4753.27 points, 603 podium finishes, 195 pole positions, 12,489 laps led, and 205 fastest laps in 758 Grands Prix contested.

Notable Ferrari drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Luigi Chinetti, Alberto Ascari, Wolfgang von Trips, Phil Hill, Olivier Gendebien, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, John Surtees, Lorenzo Bandini, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Niki Lauda, Carlos Reutemann, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Didier Pironi, Michele Alboreto, Gerhard Berger, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Eddie Irvine, Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen, and Felipe Massa.

The Scuderia Ferrari drivers for the 2006 F1 season were Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. At the end of the 2006 season the team courted controversy by continuing to allow Marlboro to sponsor them after they, along with the other F1 teams, made a promise to end sponsorship deals with tobacco manufacturers. A five year deal worth a reported $500 million was agreed.[citation needed]

The drivers competing in 2007 were Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen went on to win the drivers championship, with Massa finishing 4th.