BAR took over the declining Tyrrell team at the end of the 1998 season.

The legendary Ken Tyrrell formed the team, which has been in a decline since its former glory days in the early 1970's. Ken had been captivated by racing since the 1950's, driving until 1958 before turning his attention to team management, eventually founding the Tyrrell Racing Team in 1960. Many say that Ken's link to the top was formed when he discovered a young Jackie Stewart and added it to his own technical abilities. Jackie was signed after Ken was urged to give the young Scotsman a test drive in his Formula Three car after the teams regular driver, Timmy Mayer was killed in Tasmania. When Stewart proved faster than Bruce McLaren, Ken was quick to sign him. Although Stewart raced in the Formula Two division, he moved into Formula One in 1968.

At that time, Ken was running with a Ford Cosworth DFV engine and a chassis from Matra and Jackie Stewart only missed out on victory in the final round of the season. It was a sign of things to come because the following year, he was unbeatable, winning six races to collect both titles, the drivers for himself, the constructors for Matra. In 1970 Matra refused to build a car to suit the Ford V8 and as the new regulations made the old one obsolete, Jackie was forced to race in a customer car from March. By this stage, Ken had hired Derek Gardner to design the first Tyrrell, the Tyrrell 001, which Jackie switched to when the March proved uncompetitive.

Together, Jackie Stewart and teammate Francois Cevert blitzed the field in 1971, with Jackie clinching his second title and Cevert coming in third. The following season saw Stewart suffering with an ulcer, disrupting his season, but he returned in force in 73, taking yet another championship, although Lotus won the Constructors championship. Ken suffered a blow early in the season when Jackie informed him of his desire to retire after the final race at Watkins Glen. It was set to be his 100th race. He had the title wrapped up in Monza with the best drive of his career, but he didn't get to race at The Glen as teammate and friend, Francois Cevert died during practice and the team withdrew. It seems as if their success died along with Cevert that day as the team has never achieved that early success since.

Tyrrell developed the famous P34 six wheeler with the theory that the four small wheels would lay down more rubber on the track, producing an aerodynamically cleaner front end and at Anderstorp in 1976, Scheckter and Depailler finished first and second. Ronnie Peterson replaced Scheckter for the 77 season, but unfortunately by then, the P34's were no longer competitive. Depailler gave the Tyrrell team victory again at Monaco in 1978, yet this was to be their last until Michele Alboreto won in Las Vegas in 1982.

The 1980's and early 1990's saw a team that was only a shadow of it's former self, highlighted only by some stunning performances by Jean Alesi using Harvey Postlewaites' 018/019 design. It wasn't until 1994 that a glimmer hope was seen to twinkle in Ken's eye. A worked Yamaha combined with Ukyo Katayama saw the team tie for sixth place. But that sparkle soon faded as although Mika Salo made a storming debut in 1995, running third in Brazil, he succumbed to cramps and spun, falling to seventh and then failed to score points for the next eleven races. Katayama failed to score at all.1996 was the same with 97 seeing the team slide even further as they struggled with year old Ford engines that left Mika Salo and Jos Verstappen struggling apart from a wet Monaco GP that saw Salo finish fifth.

At the end of the 97 season, Ken sold the team to British American Tobacco so that it could form a new team and hopefully return to the early glory days. I998 saw Tyrrell race for their final season, the name being officially changed in December then, sadly, Ken walked away from the team after a dispute over the driver line up.

Jacques Villeneuve�s manager led the team in its first year, with Jacques teamed up with Ricardo Zonta. They started the season under a cloud, defying the FIA when they launched the cars in dual livery, eventually compromising with a split livery. Their first year ended in bitter disappointment without scoring a single point, the team plagued with reliability problems race after race. Their 2000 line-up was rumoured to be in doubt, with talk of Pollock being fired for the teams� outcome in the 99 season and Villeneuve threatening to leave with him. However this didn�t eventuate and the in house politics continue to rage.

Their first year with Honda went very well, Villeneuve putting in some very strong performances and Zonta coming good towards the end of the season. However it was too late for the Brazilian, as BAR signed Olivier Panis to line up alongside Villeneuve for 2001 and together the duo are hoping to improve even further on their fifth place finish in 2000.

Olivier started racing karts in 1979 and collected numerous national titles before winning the Volant Elf scholarship in 1987 that saw him enter the French Formula Renault Championship. He came fourth overall in his first season, but took the title the following year, earning himself a ride in French Formula Three with the Winfield team. He was fourth overall in his debut year and runner up in his second season.

1992 saw him entering Formula 3000, but he suffered in the Lola. In 1993, he took the title for the DAMS team, winning three late season races. His formula One debut came in 1994, for Ligier at the Brazilian Grand Prix. Here he qualified 19th, and finished the race11th, 3 laps down. His first podium finish came in Germany that same year, where he qualified in twelfth, but half the field was wiped out on the opening lap, and he finished in second.

He showed remarkable consistency in that year, finishing 15 of the 16 races, and in 1995, he again took a second placing, in Adelaide Australia, when all the forerunners bar Damon Hill retired. His first Grand Prix victory came at a wet Monaco race in 1996. Qualifying in 14th, he drove the Ligier to victory in a timed race, where many fell victim to the conditions.

Continuing on with the team after its change to Prost, the 97 season looked bright. Out of the first 5 races, he had four point finishes, including a second in Spain, and a third in Brazil, but tragedy struck in Montreal, where he crashed and injured his leg, causing him to miss the next 7 races. Despite this, he finished 9th overall with 16 points. 1998 was a disappointment, with 6 retirements, and the highest finish being 9th in Australia. He finished the season with no points.

In 2000 he opted to sit the year out and took up a testing contract with the Mercedes powered McLaren team. The Frenchman was fed up with driving for mid field outfits and hoped that the new role would show team bosses exactly what he was capable of. His plan worked and before the season was out the BAR team had contracted his services for the 2001 season. He will partner long term friend, Jacques Villeneuve and together they are hoping to push the team further up the grid.

Jacques raced in the Italian Formula Three series from 1989 until 1991. He ranked 6th overall, despite not winning a single race. He moved to the Japanese Formula Three in 1992, finishing runner up after winning three times. Moving to the North American Toyota Atlantic series, he won five times on tracks that he had never seen before.

He moved swiftly to Indy Car racing, and was rookie of the year in 1994. This same year saw him take second place in the Indianapolis 500 and the win at Road America, for the Forsythe team, ranking 6th overall for the season. 1995 saw him take the Indy title, as well as winning the Indianapolis 500.

Jacques made his Formula One debut with Williams in 1996, almost winning his first race, after qualifying in pole, but teammate Damon Hill took the victory. His first victory came at the European Grand Prix, followed by wins in Britain, Hungary, and Portugal. He chased his teammate all the way to the final round of the season, but an accident saw Jacques out of the race, and Damon Hill drive on to take the title.

In 1997, he won three out of the first six races, then a further four wins, saw him one point behind Michael Schumacher at the final race in Jerez. Controversy surrounded this race, but Schumacher retired, and Jacques drove the ailing Williams over the line in third, but it was enough to clinch the title.

Losing the Renault engine for 1998, Williams never seemed to be able to match the speed of their competitors, and the highest place Jacques finished was third, for both Germany and Hungary. He finished 5th overall with 21 points.

1999 saw him as the number one driver for the revamped Tyrrell team, BAR, where he hoped to reaffirm his status as World Champion for a second year, but things didn't go as he had hoped, with the majority of the season seeing him retiring from race after race. A few good qualifying sessions didn't follow through to fruition and he finished the season pointless.

The year 2000 saw him remain with BAR and together with the added power of the Honda engines in the new season, he had hoped to see victory once again. However, the domination of Ferrari and McLaren proved to be too strong and podium finishes for the Canadian still failed to eventuate. Despite the lack of wins, the team moved up to fifth in the constructor�s championship and were regarded as the most improved outfit on the grid. Now partnered with old time friend, Olivier Panis for the 2001 championship, Jacques is looking to finally reclaim glory for himself and bring further success to the team.