Formula 1 teams AlphaTauri and Sauber are naming their teams after sponsors Visa Cash App and Stake, respectively, continuing a tradition of teams with unusual names due to sponsorship, such as MasterCard Lola, Osella, John Goldie Racing with Hexagon, Super Aguri, EuroBrun, and Trojan.
Highlights
‣ Formula 1 is an expensive sport that heavily relies on sponsors, often leading to teams being named after their sponsors.
‣ Visa Cash App and Stake are expected to become the namesakes of AlphaTauri and Sauber, respectively.
‣ In the past, there have been F1 teams with remarkable names like MasterCard Lola, Osella, John Goldie Racing with Hexagon, Super Aguri, EuroBrun, and Trojan.
‣ Despite the financial backing from sponsors, many of these teams faced significant financial problems and had short-lived careers in Formula 1.
Formula 1 isn’t a cheap sport, you know. It’s all about the money, honey. Sponsors are the lifeblood, keeping the wheels turning, literally. Take AlphaTauri and Sauber, for instance. They’ve got Visa Cash App and Stake backing them up. So, they’ve gone ahead and named the teams after their sponsors. Kinda weird, right? But hey, it’s not the first time. F1 has seen its fair share of oddball team names. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
MasterCard Lola, remember them? Visa’s about to follow in their footsteps as AlphaTauri’s namesake. But MasterCard was the pioneer, the first credit card company to lend its name to an F1 team. Didn’t quite work out though. They only lasted one Grand Prix weekend in ’97. Down under in Australia, they didn’t even qualify. Pulled the plug before the second race. Talk about irony. A team sponsored by MasterCard, drowning in financial woes.
Then there was Osella. Named after its founder, Enzo Osella. Nothing strange about that. But the sponsors, oh boy! They had some real characters. The 80s saw a parade of bizarre team names on the F1 grid. Denim Osella, Denim S.A.I.M.A. Kelémata Osella, Landis & Gyr Osella, Fondmetal Osella. Quite the mouthful, eh?
John Goldie Racing with Hexagon. Now that’s a name! They didn’t make much of a splash in their one year in F1 (’74). Scored points in three races, thanks mostly to John Watson’s driving chops. The legendary Carlos Pace did one race for them too. The name’s stuck around though. John Goldie, a property tycoon, was the team’s sponsor. Hexagon’s a car dealership in Britain.
Super Aguri. Aguri Suzuki’s brainchild. Not so super, as it turned out. They lasted just over two seasons in F1 (2006-2008), scoring a measly four points. Bernie Ecclestone, F1’s then-owner, tried to bail them out. But the financial hole was too deep. They bowed out before the 2008 Turkish GP. Not exactly a grand exit.
EuroBrun. The lovechild of Euroracing and Brun Motorsport. They kicked off their F1 journey in ’88 with high hopes. But it was a flop. In three seasons, they only finished seven Grand Prix. Their last qualification was at the end of their first season. The next two seasons? Nada. When the money dried up, so did the team. But the name EuroBrun, that’s stuck around.
Trojan. You might’ve seen their cars in old-timey street scenes from the 20s or 30s. They were a British car manufacturer from 1914 to 1965. They had a brief stint in F1 too. In ’74, they entered eight times (actually competed six times). Tim Schenken was their man, the one behind the wheel. He also drove for Williams, Brabham, and Lotus.
