(1997)
Active Years in Formula One: 1997
Statistics:
|
Attempted |
Started |
Finished |
Best Result |
Points |
|
1 |
0 |
0 |
23rd (DNQ) |
0 |
Drivers:
Vincenzo Sospiri - 0 Starts / 1 Attempt
Ricardo Rosset - 0 Starts / 1 Attempt
Though Lola has a long history in Formula One, they always had a
partner firm to help them along the way, such as
Haas, Larrousse or Scuderia Italia. In 1997, Lola made a swift and
ambitious move to return to F1 on its own. The team secured multiple
sponsorship deals with companies such as Mastercard and Pennzoil, and
had a good financial base, but unfortunately they neglected to put the
required time, money and effort into the most important component of any
racing team, the car. When the team arrived in Australia for the first race of the year, sporting their
sharp liveried cars with big money sponsors, they were horrified to find
that the cars were painfully slow. So slow, in fact, that their best qualifying time was a
full eleven seconds off of pole, and that was not even close to the minimum
required 107% rule to get into the race.
When the sponsors saw this performance, they promptly pulled their support
of the project, leaving Lola with the bill. Without a car, and now without
sponsorship, the Lola team was essentially dead in the water. The debts
ended up sending the parent company, Lola Cars, into bankruptcy.
This team is probably the most pathetic attempt that Formula One has
ever seen. Lola showed up for one race weekend, and were never seen again.
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