BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in 1950. The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s, before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s. This engine was the result of a deal between BMW and Brabham, which resulted in the team's chassis being powered by BMW engines from 1982 until 1987, a period in which Nelson Piquet won the 1983 championship driving a Brabham BT52-BMW. BMW also supplied the M12/13 on a customer basis to the ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier teams during this period, with various degrees of success. In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team under the Megatron badge. Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Technical Regulations for 1989, rendering the M12/13 obsolete.
Benetton Formula Ltd., commonly referred to simply as Benetton, was a Formula One constructor that participated from 1986 to 2001. The team was owned by the Benetton family who run a worldwide chain of clothing stores of the same name. In 2000, the team was purchased by Renault, but competed as Benetton for the 2000 and 2001 seasons. In 2002, the team became Renault. The Benetton Formula team was chaired by Alessandro Benetton from 1988 to 1998.
Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from 1978 to 2002. It was known as Footwork from 1991 to 1996.
Thierry Marc Boutsen is a Belgian former racing driver who raced for the Arrows, Benetton, Williams, Ligier and Jordan teams in Formula One. He competed in 164 World Championship Grands Prix, winning three races, achieving 15 podiums and scoring 132 career points. His best finish in the World Drivers' Championship was fourth in 1988 whilst driving for Benetton. He also twice finished second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar race.
The 1989 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on 18 June 1989. It was the sixth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship.
The 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 43rd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 26 March and ended on 5 November. Alain Prost won his third Drivers' Championship, and McLaren won the Constructors' Championship.
The 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 41st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 12 April and ended on 15 November.
The 1986 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 40th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, both of which commenced on 23 March and ended on 26 October after sixteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Alain Prost, Prost was the first driver to win back-to-back Drivers' Championships since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960. Together with Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna dominated throughout the season and formed what was dubbed as the "Gang of Four".
The BMW M12/13 turbo was a 1,499.8 cc four-cylinder turbocharged Formula One engine, based on the standard BMW M10 engine introduced in 1961, and powered the F1 cars of Brabham, Arrows and Benetton. Nelson Piquet won the FIA Formula One Drivers' Championship in 1983 driving a Brabham powered by the BMW M12/13 turbo. It was the first Drivers' Championship to be won using a turbocharged engine. The engine also powered the BMW GTP and in the 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated form, the successful March Engineering Formula Two cars. BMW engineers estimated the engine produced around 1,400 hp at maximum boost, however the BMW engine dynamometer could not go beyond 1,280 bhp.
The Brabham BT55 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray and David North for the Brabham team owned by Bernie Ecclestone. It used a BMW four-cylinder turbocharged engine tilted over on its side to allow a clear supply of air to the rear wing. The car competed during the 1986 Formula One season. It was not successful and its introduction coincided with the end of Brabham's time as a competitive team.
The Benetton B186 is a Formula One racing car, built and raced by the Benetton team for the 1986 Formula One World Championship. It was the first car to be constructed and raced by Benetton, which had bought the Toleman team at the end of 1985 after several years of sponsoring it and other teams, including Alfa Romeo and Tyrrell.
The Arrows A7 was a Formula One car which the Arrows team used to compete in the 1984 Formula One season. The car made its debut at the 1984 Belgian Grand Prix held that year at Zolder. Driven by versatile Swiss fast man Marc Surer and Belgian Thierry Boutsen, the A7 scored only 3 points when Boutsen and Surer finished 5th and 6th respectively in the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix.
The Arrows A9 was a Formula One car which the Arrows team used to compete in the 1986 Formula One season. It was powered by the massively-powerful BMW M12/13 turbocharged inline-four engine. Unlike the BMWs used by the Brabham and Benetton teams whose engines were maintained and updated regularly by BMW, the Arrows engines were maintained by Swiss engine guru Heini Mader and were rated as the least powerful of the BMW runners.
The Arrows A10 was a Formula One car used by the Arrows team to compete in the 1987 and 1988 Formula One seasons. The car was designed by Ross Brawn and was upgraded slightly in 1988, racing as A10B.
The Benetton B188 is a Formula One racing car designed by Rory Byrne and raced by Benetton team in the 1988 Formula One season and in the first half of the 1989 Formula One season. Dating back to when the team started as Toleman in 1981, the B188 was the first car produced by the team not to be powered by a turbocharged engine.
The Brabham BT54 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team for the 1985 Formula One season. The car was powered by the BMW M12 4cyl turbo engine and used Pirelli tyres.
The Benetton B187 is a Formula One racing car designed by Rory Byrne and raced by the Benetton team in the 1987 Formula One World Championship. The B187 replaced the B186 used in the 1986 season.
The Brabham BT50 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray and powered by a turbo BMW engine. It was raced by the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, during the 1982 Formula One season. Driven by Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, it made its debut at the South African Grand Prix before being withdrawn for further development of its engine while the team reverted to the previous year's car, the Brabham BT49. On the reintroduction of the BT50, Piquet finished fifth in the Belgian Grand Prix. A few races later he drove it to a win in the Canadian Grand Prix. Later in the year it achieved three more finishes in the points for the team. During the second half of the season, Brabham implemented the strategy of mid-race refueling. This allowed Piquet and Patrese to start the races relatively light and use their reduced weight to gain track position over their competitors before stopping to refuel. The poor reliability of the BT50 meant that they had only a few opportunities to demonstrate the strategy in practice.
The Brabham BT56 was a Formula One car designed by John Baldwin and Sergio Rinland and raced by the Brabham team in the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Andrea de Cesaris, Riccardo Patrese and Stefano Modena; both de Cesaris and Patrese scored a 3rd place driving the BT56.
The Ford Cosworth GBA is an extremely powerful turbocharged V6 racing engine, designed and developed by Cosworth, in partnership with Ford, for use in Formula One, from 1986 to 1987. The customer engine was raced by both Lola and Benetton. In the registration lists it appeared under the designations Ford TEC or Ford TEC-Turbo. The GBA was the only supercharged Formula 1 engine that Cosworth and Ford had in the so-called turbo era, and at the same time the last new development to be used before turbo engines were banned in 1989. The Cosworth GBA competed in 1986 and 1987. Only available to selected Formula 1 teams, it did not score a win in a Formula 1 World Championship round.
Gerhard Berger 
Thierry Boutsen 
Marc Surer 
Christian Danner 
