F1'S WORST DEBUT SEASON? The Story of the British American Racing 1999 Season

[@CyanRooper]

That 555 livery could have gone down in history as one of the best F1 liveries of all time.

[@JohnSmithShields]

It looked fantastic in the Subaru cars.

[@thesunnynationg]

I liked the Lucky Strike better. The "Subaru" Livery doesn't suit a F1 car.

[@CyanRooper]

@@thesunnynationg There was a one-off livery that the 2005 BAR F1 team used for that year's Chinese GP that was the usual Lucky Strike livery with its logos replaced with the 555 logo instead with blue, black, yellow and white colours instead of the usual Lucky Strike colours. I think that livery could have also worked if they decided to stick with 555 instead of Lucky Strike.

[@thesunnynationg]

@@CyanRooper the white blue one was actually nice. The year before they had the same livery in China but instead of blue they had Mugen/Honda Colors.

[@toddmuckelvane1866]

I wanted them to do well

[@callofcraig9919]

Worst debut season? Lola be like ‘Here. Hold my Mastercard’.

[@jacobmassey3897]

They only did 1 weekend though. BAR did a full season

[@upthebracket26]

@@jacobmassey3897 & they had a hundred million more dollars.

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

I think you have to take resources into account. Lola were an experienced chassis builder and should have done better, but the team was run on a shoestring and MasterCard forcing them to start in 1997 screwed them. I think if they'd waited until 1998 they'd have done better. By most metrics someone like Life would have had the worst debut season but they were less a team than a marketing exercise for a stupid engine concept, and they were run on loose change and using a years old chassis design that had been useless when it was first designed. Andrea Moda were chancers run by someone with no idea how F1 even worked. Forti? Pacific? Again, very out of date chassis and no money to develop them. Simtek? A good solid car designed by Nick Wirth but little money and even less luck. BAR had none of the excuses any of those teams did. They had access to a bottomless pit of money, an engine that had won a world championship 2 years earlier and was still scoring points in the back of the Williams and Benetton cars. A chassis designed by one of the most respected companies in the business. Plus unlike any of those teams (except Andrea Moda), they had evolved out of the existing Tyrrell team rather than having to create everything from scratch. How you parlay THAT into zero points and only a handful of race finishes is beyond me.

[@kevinprior3549]

They never really got going

[@Blubatt]

Pretty low bar though

[@markko17]

I always looked at the careers of JV and Emerson Fittipaldi as being similar, they just did it in different order. Emerson was successful in F1, then went to a start up team and almost ruined his career, but was able to make a comeback in CART. JV was successful in CART, successful in F1, then went to start up and DID ruin his career.

[@areasquirrel]

Love it. Those colours stood out quite a bit. Especially at Spa... Said in an Irish accent on RTE. "Bee Ay Oar." I remember a cartoon stating "What A Difference A Year Makes." '99 - Pollock: "Our chassis is a WINNER and we'll be giving Ferrari and McLaren a run for their money!" '00 - Pollock: "Our chassis shows promise. We hope to score our first points this year and finish the season ahead of Minardi..."

[@eamonahern7495]

Jordan came 3rd in the drivers and constructors in 1999 with a mugen Honda and they still gave works Honda engines to BAR.

[@JSmith19858]

They all got what they paid for. Had Eddie been willing to pay for the same spec Honda engines, he'd have likely got them

[@SteffenT1981]

Fun fact: The FIA, who denied BAR to use two different liveries, had Max Mosley as a president. Back in the 1970s this Max Mosley entered his March cars with up to four different liveries in one race! The last time before BAR in 1999 that a Team used two different liveries was Lotus in round 1 and 2 of the 1994 season.

[@stinkyroadhog1347]

What about Ligier for the final two rounds of the 1993 season? I remember Mark Blundell's car staying in the standard livery whilst Brundle's car got the special livery

[@SteffenT1981]

@@stinkyroadhog1347 That's correct and I am well aware of that. In fact I have a model kit of that particular car. But as you wrote the Ligier in the Hugo Pratt livery started at the end of 1993 making it the penultimate occasion before BAR. I thought it was worth to mention the Lotus, because both versions used the same colours in a different design and are often overlooked.

[@potatogirlcultist19]

The only time I think it's happened since (excluding 3rd cars in practice sessions), is the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, where David Coulthard got permission from all 9 teams to run the 'Wings for Life' livery for his final race. There have also been minor changes as well, like in Alonso last race they ran blue yellow and red on the engine cover.

[@17Uhr23]

*Larrousse

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

'A Tradition of Excellence' just summed up the whole thing...

[@AidanMillward]

All... 3 days of it?

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

@@AidanMillward Pollock's handling of 1999 was weaponised gormlessness.

[@AidanMillward]

@@thatguyfromcetialphaV pollock is one vowel away from pillock 💁🏻‍♂️

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

@@AidanMillward And one letter away from bollock! :)

[@AidanMillward]

@@thatguyfromcetialphaV 🤯

[@MichaelBrandon-cp8jq]

Both the 555 and Lucky Strike liveries for the BAR would have been gorgeous on their own. Mashed together it's a bit of a fustercluck, but it was very memorable! I also remember the BAR did have some pace! JV jumped the Ferraris at the start of Barcelona from 6th to 3rd and held them off until he retired about halfway through the race. It was solidly midfield, like Prost or Sauber that year.

[@crashfan360]

Going from Tyrell > BAR > Honda > Brawn > Mercedes is quite the glowup

[@harmkuijpers6642]

Mercedes is now performing at the same level as BAR were in the early 00s.

[@kevinjones7870]

I think what makes BAR's first season so bad was the fact they were bragging about how they would be fighting for race wins right away, yet Villeneuve failed to finish for the first 11 races that season, admittedly some of those dnf's were his fault, but still a bad debut season

[@jamiecrease3376]

Wesley Graves began racing again a few years back after a long time away. In the 100-uk karting class and won the title in 2022.

[@reptongeek]

Also Jacques Villeneuve's spin in the first race - and it was a spin, albeit quite a violent one - triggered the first ever Safety Car in Albert Park (for the stats fans)

[@F1Krazy]

I think Toyota in '02 is another contender for "worst debut". They were one of the biggest car companies in the world, with the biggest budget of any team on the grid, and even delayed their entry by a year to give themselves more time to become competitive. The entire grid was shitting bricks, assuming they'd wipe the floor with everyone.. and then they scored just two points all season, finishing behind Minardi and ahead of only Arrows, who went bankrupt and folded mid-season. It was at least reliable, unlike BAR in '99, but it was also dead slow.

[@1greenMitsi]

nah their entry was delayed cuz they intended to enter with a V12 but then V12s got banned so they had to develop a V10 from scratch

[@senorsoupe]

It was almost the opposite story. Adrian Reynard's 1999 BAR was too risky, it was decently quick but took too many risks and was unreliable. On the other hand, Toyota were too conservative in their design and it was just not quick enough.

[@mark4lev]

BMW Honda and Toyota spent $12 billion dollars to achieve f*** all. Honda had a lucky win, and so did bmw. Neither win was down to genuine pace.

[@senorsoupe]

@@mark4lev I can agree about Honda and Toyota, but BMW were legit competitive in 2008, Kubica's win was not down to luck. BMW management immediately fucked it up though by abandoning development of the 2008 car.

[@mark4lev]

@@senorsoupe the car was fast at some tracks granted, I don’t think it ever won a race on pure pace though. The race kubica won was where Hamilton hit raikkonen in the pit lane

[@King_Ears]

Ah the good 'ole zipped livery

[@jackkeithley4934]

Before you even said where the reference was from, I respect the Simon Miller saying. Although it was missing the headslap.

[@reptongeek]

I still remember Tony Jardine's joke about BAR's season; 'What's the difference between a BAR and a cocktail stick? A Cocktail stick has two points' BAR was such a disaster, they didn't get two cars in the points on the road until the USA GP in 2000 about 30 races into its tenure

[@bules6790]

That's not correct. Both cars finished in the points the first race of 2000

[@reptongeek]

@@bules6790 Remember though I said 'on the road'. Zonta originally finished seventh in Australia but was promoted to sixth when Mika Salo was disqualified for an illegal front wing. The US GP was the first time in the teams history that both cars crossed the line in the points positions.

[@bules6790]

@@reptongeek no it was Australia 2000. Villeneuve was 4th and Zonta 6th

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

@@bules6790 He said on the road, which means on merit. The cars crossed the line in points position not bumped up due to penalties of others

[@cschnauz]

Pretty certain the w196 that Fangio took the ‘54 and ‘55 titles with wasn’t made in Britain or Italy….

[@ATEC101]

He is a fetus and undereducated. Fangio: 5 titles, 4 different manufacturers and one broken neck. Don't see anyone surpassing that.

[@rosstaylor8954]

World Constructors Championship was first handed out in 1958

[@lordhenrywotton95]

I heard, I think on Bring Back V10s, that the Supertec engines vibrated a lot and Williams and Benetton had a year to figure out the frequency they should avoid so their components didn’t get shaken apart.

[@mark4lev]

More so than the original works Renault v10? Was there issues with the quality

[@Le3eFrereBrunet]

Let’s not forget Jacques also wanted to succeed where is father failed, i.e. create his own F1 team.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

That was a heck of a fun first year because Craig made a right Pollock of himself. He was so full of it that you just knew it wasn't going to go well, even before the steering wheel was first turned in anger. It didn't help that JV was his usual "I am the greatest of all time" self. Pride cometh before the fall, and all that. My best memory of Zonta is the poor lad being overtaken by Schumi and Mika Hakkinen at the same time either side of him. That's got to be one of the best overtakes in history! Something you said about the picture of the McLaren team with the now unknown lad in it gave me an idea for you. There must be countless photos of that ilk out there, whether you can show them or not (a description and list of names is sufficient if you can't). A "where are they now?" series, perhaps? I would be very interested in it.

[@martinknowles8657]

What, Craig Pollock, the former Ski Instructor at JV;s private school in Switzerland :) ;)

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

There is also photo of Red Bull juniors with Ricciardo, Kvyat, Hartley and others

[@Craigmt12]

BAR certainly under delivered during that first season, especially with the poor reliability. But as you pointed out, if the modern points system has been in place they’d have scored a handful of points over the season, which by today’s standards would be seen as amazing for a new team.

[@alexpeak16]

Craig Pollock was clearly the wrong man to lead BAR - he never came across as convincing or a proper leader. Apparently there were constant rumours through '99 that he would be replaced as team boss by Adrian Reynard. It wasn't until David Richards arrived that BAR made genuine progress. After Zonta's Eau Rouge crash, Murray Walker proclaimed "Martin....I must be very careful what I say" which implies he knew something fishy was going on between Villeneuve and Zonta.

[@iwantanaivanovic2962]

Who is Martin?

[@alexpeak16]

@@iwantanaivanovic2962 Brundle, Murray's co-commentator

[@adamhousden6349]

Wesley Graves retired at 20 years old and went back to uni, then got a job in the city in finances

[@captainmagenta899]

There was also that special 'arty' Gitanes livery that Ligier put on Brundle's car at the end of 93. I loved that one.

[@janiandelin93]

What about Keke running the Marlboro Lights livery while Prost the standard Marlboro one?

[@SteveDull]

Exactly, yellow replacing red at the '86 Portuguese GP, on the one car only.

[@mikeklein1779]

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe that rule was enacted in the mid-90's, so the situation you described was legal.

[@chrisdavidson911]

“we will win our first race!” - in fairness they did, it just took a few seasons

[@amaccama3267]

I did like the Lucky Strike livery. The racesuits looked cool.

[@martinknowles8657]

One amusing thing you missed was the hype around Reynard's history. In every category they'd ever entered up to F1, they'd always won on their debut in a new category; Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Three (1985), Formula Atlantic, Formula 3000 (1988) and CART (1994). There was serious talk about whether they could do it in F1...yeah right :D I worked with them that year as a supplier (fibre networks in the motorhome & at the track) & the amount of money they wasted was stupendous. There is also the funny story of their state of the art motorhome that had an extending roof to allow them a double decker work space compared to everyone else's single deck. They pissed everyone off so much that at one race, Monza I think, their allotted paddock slot was under a bridge so they couldn't extend the roof causing them loads of grief that weekend.

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

Isn't it crazy how this team became one of the greatest teams of all time, i.e. Mercedes? And if you take it one step back, it became Brawn which actually fulfilled Craig Pollock's promise that they would win their debut race albeit 10 years late lol - and with a lot more changes hahaha.

[@pguth98]

BAR rolls "Worst Debut Season in F1 History," asked to leave racing.

[@rassiracing5104]

Two longer videos is much appreciated.

[@JohnSmithShields]

This is how storytime started ,long form videos. Long may it continue.

[@simontravers2715]

This is like when Clarkson & May did that DVD finding the worst car, when they started looking for bad cars by companies that should’ve known better.

[@palm92]

I've heard the "win our first race" line attributed to Reynard himself, as Reynard chassis had done that in F3/Formula Atlantic/F3000/CART on their first entry. Cannot find any evidence he said that though... As an aside, Reynard's involvement in this fiasco spelled the end of Reynard as a whole - their near monopoly at one point in CART was challenged by Lola in 1999 and by 2000 parity was achieved. They were defunct by 2002, haven been overtaken by Lola in that same year. Similar parallels to the collapse of Lola as a whole in 1997 after their atrocious F1 debut. While Lola recovered under Martin Birrane (for a time anyway), Reynard never did.

[@DavidMyers-o7w]

Great discussion - thank you. I always wondered what might have happened had JV gone to McLaren. If only......

[@lint80]

In 1993 Ligier ran 1 car in a different livery too. You should check it out because its amazing (IMHO)

[@ANTONSV5]

I was hoping you'd mention the sudden turn in pace at Spain, one of the few times we saw old Jacques return.

[@rupertpupkin9630]

I'm glad someone mentioned it, JV really does cop it but during 1999 and 2000 he put in some monster performances in those shitboxes but nobody ever gives him credit. That qualifying and race at Barcelona 1999 was one of the performances of the season. He had a new car and team up in 3rd, in front of the Ferrari's... then settled into 5th, miles in front of everyone else until mechanical trouble. All this in a legitimate midfield car. Had Alonso done that, you'd never hear the end of it. JV right up until 2001 was one of the best 3 drivers in the world, end of story.

[@Ramtamtama]

Players was part of Imperial Tobacco, not BAT. As a side note, until it was demolished a few years ago I could often smell the Imperial Horizon factory from my house and from football, depending on the wind. Ironically the Horizon site bordered Boots site. Wesley Graves had his life go downhill after being dropped by McLaren. He stopped racing, got in trouble at school, and was unable to hold down a job, but he always talked about getting back in, according to a Grauniad article 7/8 years ago. I think he's now racing again, working, and has kids.

[@lurchio]

The old horizon factory I believe used to be called the John players factory. And it didn't smell much better on the inside 😅 Was quite amazed to see it gone 4 years ago when I went into Nottingham on the way home Interesting side note. Benson's and hedges were not owned by BAT but made under license in many factories e.g. JT, JTI, BAT and Philip Morris.

[@alaricbragg7843]

Jacques should have tried to stay at Williams. I would never forget him breaking down at Imola in 1999!

[@McLarenMercedes]

Apparently Frank Williams *wanted* him to stay for 1999 and 2000 with an almost certain seat for 2001 as well. But Frank also had a penchant of paying his champions peanuts which is the reason not a single Williams champion driver ever defended their title with Williams. While Jacques move to BAR turned out to be disastrous it certainly made sense for him from an economic perspective. I recall reading BAR paid him almost as much as Ferrari paid Schumacher.

[@Alan-cg8gx]

I remember Michael Schumacher running different color (white) wheels 94ish to his team mates black wheels was that rule changed.

[@JutiMayranen]

I still remember it like yesterday. The dual liveried cars at launch, promises of a debut race win, ex-champion as lead driver and lots of money.

[@tomastoth4018]

Eleven retirements in a row from a former world champion - this says it all. Even Toyota had put their act better together 3 years later. And there was a massive budget available as well. Although, driver line-up of Salo & McNish left a lot to be desired, to be honest.

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

Toyota is an example on how not to run an F1 team: subpar driver pairing for their ambition, revolving door management, and too much corporate interference. They only didn't have fraud sponsors

[@bradydicarlo9143]

Jacques’ 11 DNF’s to start the season led to one of my favorite Murray Walker quotes.

[@Ryzard]

What was it? Or what should I search to hear it?

[@bradydicarlo9143]

@@Ryzard It was the 1999 Hungarian Grand Prix. I believe he said "11 DNF's in 11 races"

[@Ryzard]

@@bradydicarlo9143 ahhhh, thank you!

[@lynxraide]

I did not expect a random Simon Millar/Whatculture reference in one of your vids

[@TheHoldenmcgroin]

That split Livery is one of my all time favorites. :)

[@markmilne213]

Niether pollock or Reynard claimed that bar would win their first race, it was a journalist who was interviewing Reynard who pointed out Reynard's chassis had always won on their debut and asked if the f1 chassis to which Reynard joked 'hopefully'. So its a bit of an urban myth

[@MrSniperfox29]

The interesting thing about BAR buying Tyrrell is they never really used anything from Tyrrell. They had a new base built They used different engines They used a different chassis maker Maybe they took the Tyrrell personal? But that's about it, everything else was left behind and sold.

[@miguelcebriancarrasco1907]

they took the really important part, the entry to the championship

[@MrSniperfox29]

@@miguelcebriancarrasco1907 Honestly that's the most important thing and probably the cheapest thing they did although you do remember that getting onto the F1 grid back then was a lot easier than it is now

[@Ramtamtama]

@@MrSniperfox29 the teams still had a say in whether a new team could join, although I think a simple majority was needed rather than the unanimity of today. Would the Big 4 have wanted another team with a budget to rival theirs? Would Minardi and Arrows have wanted even more competition for 10th? A licence may have only cost £250,000 but was worth its weight in myrrh.

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

They also lost a lot of Tyrrell personnel, most of them moved to the stillborn Honda project

[@MrSniperfox29]

@@Ramtamtama Nope, you just paid the entry fee and that was that, hence why brand new teams entered with no issues just two years before.

[@Firashelou]

amazing you reached 100k subscribers ! we would like a video from you showing the trophy from youtube :D

[@QALibrary]

It didn’t help that they hired a motor bike aero designer to design the car

[@andrewcarter9649]

I believe it was Adrien Reynard who made the outlandish prediction they'd win their first race, I have vague memories of seeing the team launch video with him at the podium making the claim. To be fair, Reynard had won the first race in every catagorie they'd ever competed in so they had form, it's just a shame nobody new they were starting the process of disintegrating at the time. It's often been said that massive vibrations from the Supertec engine was responsible for their poor reliability, it basically shook the car apart, I've just never once heard an explanation for why they suffered from sever vibrations when Williams and Benetton with the same engines didn't.

[@palm92]

The sad thing is is that this car had some genuine pace - I like it in a way to the 1984 ATS D7.

[@kickstartmotoart]

I remember JV was asked to "tidy up" his appearance (or something like that) Ron Dennis would have had a full-on melt down over JV 😂

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

JV also slandered Button saying he looks more like a boyband member than an F1 driver

[@TheShrike616]

Useless fun fact of the day, Belgian edition: Subaru Belgiums address is Leuvensesteenweg ... 555, Zaventem Belgium. 600m from my front door.

[@superneddy]

I remember vividly the interview Craig Pollock did before the Australian GP, i think on pre season. He definitely said that BAR waa going to win their first ever race. Even 14 year old me thought that was complete bollocks.

[@kevinprior3549]

Probably the most bizarre livery ever... the BAR-Supertec of 1999.

[@jonihamalainen2228]

1999. The last year before Millenium. Everything went absolutely crazy! That 555 was with BAR & Honda to 04 in China session at least and if not in 05 but in 06 it was back? Anyway their best eason without doubt was the 04 season. Shame Villeneuve couldnt be there anymore. I wonder what Jacques would have done with that car but Button was also al lready up in his game.

[@n8pls543]

But a millennium is a period of 1000 years and the first one in the modern calendar era was 1-1000AD/CE... so the second was 1001-2000.

[@fix0the0spade]

I see 6 top 10 results in 1999, ergo their debut season was better than HRT, 'Lotus' and Virgin combined. But still, it was good effort.

[@CharlesOffdensen]

3:30 wait, wasn't the Mercedes-Benz W196 built in Germany?

[@ihathtelekinesis]

That would’ve been before the WCC was introduced in 1958.

[@jacekatalakis8316]

Makes me wonder how the livery would be without the zipper if they went all the way to the front of the car with it. I mean, it'd have given the FIA absolute fits, sure, but.... Come on. Anyone done a mock up of what that would have been like without the zipper bit on the livery bit

[@afcreative22]

Unpopular opinion but I genuinely love that livery

[@BungleBare]

Kudos for it giving two fingers to Bernie. Won’t let me have my chosen two liveries? Well, ways and means, then …..

[@RANDOMZBOSSMAN1]

6:15 Even though this was their original reason I wouldn’t be surprised if they saw the writing on the wall that Bridgestone was making better tires than them and more teams were probably gonna move over to Bridgestone

[@minibus9]

awesome video

[@RRaquello]

I remember a crazy rumor at the time that Pollock was out to form a "super team" with Villeneuve teamed with, of all people, Jeff Gordon. I don't think this was ever remotely serious and probably something just to grab headlines in the US, but if there was ever any truth to it, Gordon and his management team proved to be much cannier in making their career decisions than Jacques Villeneuve. Gordon always was vocal about his love for Formula 1--as a fan. Maybe at some point in his early development, as a teenager, if he had been introduced to Formula cars and gone through the training ladder, he could have been a star in F1, but that was never going to happen on any planet called Earth, and by the late 90s, he was in his late 20's and not dumb enough to think he could make such a radical career switch.

[@samhamovies]

I believe it was Adrian Reynard who claimed they would win their first race...sounds daft but they did win first time out in- Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Three (1985), Formula Atlantic, Formula 3000 (1988) and CART (1994) .... so, you know....

[@moreheff]

Loved the split livery myself. At least the car stood out. Just watched that Zonta accident. Wow, how lucky was he? Flat out up the hill, flipped on hitting the gravel and no halo in those days so he was mega lucky, smashed into the barrier and was left with just a shell of a car as there were no tethers on the wheels either and somehow ended the right way up!! Up there amongst the worst I have seen but still walked away from it.......................... Just!!!

[@gordonwallin2368]

YES! Andretti should buy Haas. Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

[@theunknownstuntman4010]

I love this livery tbf, just for trying to stick it to the FIA lol

[@saippuakivikuappias]

Those Spa crashes, Zonta rolls his as well but before he hits the wall. Zonta won that one, no question. Even Jock Clear said so.

[@ashooaway]

You could say they set the B.A.R. low for 2000?

[@jasonrushton5991]

Remember it, all the hype in the magazine's all over the place. JV & HIS New Team. Yet, it was our JB who got the first's.

[@mike04574]

could you do a video on fittipaldi leaving lotus in the 70s to his own team?

[@JohnSmithShields]

That time to prepare really worked for the Lola team.

[@fineraftmovies]

Quick, Aidan put up another story time!

[@jradicals87]

If you search something like "1999 BAR test car" you can see the blue/silver/yellow livery in action

[@21canyoudosumformay]

Do a video on Wesley Graves its a really interesting story and id love to see it.

[@theF1oracle]

Im sorry, but villeneuve signing up for BAR was all about the money. I never knew about the offer from mclaren until i heard it in this video (good job) but surely that would have been a better call than signing up of BAR

[@Javadamutt]

I think it was that season I started to question how Villeneuve won the world championship. Yes the BAR was dreadful but both drivers didn’t really crown themselves in glory

[@joribremer5260]

That car wasnt great.. and unreliable as hell.. so developing the car was a problem…

[@ElectoneGuy]

The zip livery was awesome and truly a middle finger to the FIA. The 99 car was an unreliable dog, but the 2000 car with the Honda engine was actually very good.

[@JohnSmithShields]

When Rosset's name was mentioned, did everyone else shout tosser too?

[@danielalonso6223]

Craig Bollock, more like

[@LucasOliveira-tt2ll]

at least they eventually won a race. What about Toyota that despite having the backing of the best selling brand in the world failed so bad (but at least they defeated Honda at Indy)

[@markalbert9011]

That Tyrell was non-competitive in 97 because of Stewart Racing is a bit.....ironic?

[@AidanMillward]

Stewart might be the only guy to win a race as a driver and team boss separately. Not including Gurney, McLaren and Brabham in that cos they were owner drivers.

[@jacobmassey3897]

This just shows that having a bottomless pit of money and a world champion still cant make a successful team if the driver isn't a natural leader and there's no top tier designer building the cars.

[@McLarenMercedes]

Craig Pollock was the culprit for this entire disaster. He wasn't fit to be team principal and from what I've read he was a figure most people in the paddock couldn't stand. Any negotiating or information to Jacques had to go through him. Whatever problems the team or Jacques had was exacerbated severalfold with Pollock.

[@jacobmassey3897]

@@McLarenMercedes no wonder he got on so well with Villeneuve then. Also no surprise that BAR stopped listening to Villeneuve the moment Bollocks Pollock left.

[@AlasdairLowe]

It is a shame they couldn't run both liveries. The 555 one is a bit of a motorsport classic, and the I think the lucky strike one was cool (I think I may be in a minority)

[@philipbray880]

Still remember their debut race wasn't overly spectacular but still they hung in their one way or another.

[@mrterp04]

I have yet to hear a good reason for why both of a team’s cars have to look nearly identical, other than “because Bernie”.

[@needfoolthings]

Tribe mentality for the television masses. It's...not a good reason, but it's THE reason.

[@dr.b0973]

If i remember hearing correctly the engine didn't mesh well with the car and the vibrations the engine created basically broke something new at every grand Prix

[@funkmachine6420]

I have to disagree. Really they performed as expected. They bought a back marker team, not McLaren or something. 2 year old engines. Only top 6 scored points, reliability was shaky up and down the grid in general. At times JV was fairly quick in 99. The real reason they stand out is because of all the pre-season bravado. If they'd have been less arrogant... Toyota had arguably an ever bigger budget, and whilst they did score 2 points in 2002 they were terrible as well. BAR was a dumb name though, no one was a "BAR fan" surely. That 99 livery, whether on its own or zipped together was AWESOME. I had a scale model of the 99 JV car!

[@Firashelou]

we need the story of Vitaly Petrov the first russian to reach f1 and without having a karting experience and the first russian to reach the podium in f1 !

[@azapro911]

BAR's debut season would have been remembered as one of the better efforts if they'd just kept their ambitions more low key in public. It was a reasonably quick car, just massively unreliable, same as Stewart in '97.

[@sandroomiguel17]

3:00 Where's Simon Miller at🤣

[@Reno49]

For what was a fancy end of life Tyrrell it had decent pace so not the WORST but by their own hyped up expectations it was. Still, Jaques' purple hair was far worse.

[@kevinprior3549]

That 1996 Tyrrell looked a bit plane jane.

[@cyberfutur5000]

13:00 Don't know, I kinda do both. I love it until I see it.

[@King_Ears]

Apart from 96 & 97 jacques F1 career was abysmal due to awful decisions

[@JohnSmithShields]

Post 2007 Alonso has entered the chat.

[@miguelcebriancarrasco1907]

@@JohnSmithShields Alonso was 2nd in the championship 3 times since 2007 at least

[@thesunnynationg]

11/32 Finishes is pretty bad for a very deep money pit. not even a single point. I watched the whole season, and even my 12y me could not grasp why they f***ed up so bad. the hype (no Internet) was real they would surely get JV another chance for the title even against Ferrari and McLaren. as Adrian said they themselves were expecting to be winning Races immediately. (I'm pretty sure to remember they said they would win their debut Race)

[@timelapsegarden2263]

My favorite livery of all time

[@assemblyerror2822]

Salo getting the best result of the year for the team, as a substitute must have been a bit of yikes for them.

[@jamessteel9016]

That BAR livery, still as hideous now as it was in 1999. Thankfully all that Honda money turned the team around.

[@kitko33]

Villeneuve post Spa race where both BARs crashed heavily... well, we have a bi-colored cars, now we also have bi-colored underwear (or something to the effect).

[@gregfelix6979]

Wasn’t it Adrian Reynard who claimed they’d win their first race?