A new team? It will hardly ever be a winner
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Ambitions are always high. Very high. Every all-new team in Formula 1 immediately talks about a deadline for capturing podium finishes, victories and even championships. As nice as all that sounds, a new team almost never becomes a winner.
The German Auto, Motor und Sport has examined how new teams have done under their original name over the past 40 years. Only two of all those newcomers managed to win a Grand Prix at least once. In 1999, thanks to Johnny Herbert, Jacky Stewart's team won the European Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. It was the first and only win for the team. Jordan was the other team to triumph in Formula 1. Team owner Eddie Jordan won four Grands Prix from 1991 to 2005.
Shape-shifting
The motorsport magazine focused the mini-investigation only on completely new teams. Stewart Grand Prix, for example, later became Jaguar and is now called Red Bull Racing. The team of current world champion Max Verstappen is, of course, a regular guest on the top step of the podium. Jordan, too, has undergone many transformations. Meanwhile, the team has been renamed Aston Martin F1.
So when Michael Andretti's Andretti Cadillac is allowed to join Formula 1, the team has the statistics against it. Only the moment Andretti sells the team again would it have a better chance of becoming a winning formation. But Formula 1 is Formula 1. Statistics are there to be changed.