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In motorsport, a privateer is usually an entrant into a racing event that is not directly supported by an automobile or motorcycle manufacturer. Privateers teams are often found competing in rally, circuit racing and motorcycle racing events and often include competitors who build and maintain their own vehicles and motorcycles. In previous Formula One seasons, privately owned teams would race using the chassis of another team or constructor in preference to building their own car; the Concorde Agreement now prohibits this practice. Increasingly, the term is being used in a Formula One context to refer to teams, such as Williams, that are not at least part-owned by large corporations. Many privateer entrants compete for the enjoyment of the sport, and are not paid to be racing drivers.
From the inaugural 1950 season until 1981, several privateer teams entered chassis at Formula One Grands Prix. Some of them—such as Tyrrell and Williams—later began to build their own chassis and thus became constructors , as well as works teams . At the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix, Equipe Banco Occidental became the last privateer team to enter Formula One, using a Williams chassis. [1] Privateer entries have been prohibited in Formula One since 1981 under the first Concorde Agreement.
As of the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix, there have been 20 victories by three privateer teams at Formula One Grands Prix: ten by Matra International/Tyrrell Racing, nine by Rob Walker Racing Team and one by FISA. The first win was achieved by Walker at the 1958 Argentine Grand Prix, and the last win was achieved by Tyrrell at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix.
Key: (Bold) Driver won the World Drivers' Championship; (Italics) Constructor won the World Constructors' Championship
Across 32 seasons, only one privateer team contributed to a Formula One World Championship: Matra International in 1969. The team—later known as Tyrrell Racing Organisation—helped constructor Matra win the World Constructors' Championship with the MS80, and driver Jackie Stewart win his maiden World Drivers' Championship.
Sir John Young "Jackie" Stewart is a British former racing driver, broadcaster and motorsport executive from Scotland, who competed in Formula One from 1965 to 1973. Nicknamed "The Flying Scot", Stewart won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with Tyrrell, and—at the time of his retirement—held the records for most wins (27), and podium finishes (43).
The Tyrrell Racing Organisation was an auto racing team and Formula One constructor founded by Ken Tyrrell (1924–2001) which started racing in 1958 and started building its own cars in 1970. The team experienced its greatest success in the early 1970s, when it won three Drivers' Championships and one Constructors' Championship with Jackie Stewart. The team never reached such heights again, although it continued to win races through the 1970s and into the early 1980s, taking the final win for the Ford Cosworth DFV engine at the 1983 Detroit Grand Prix. The team was bought by British American Tobacco in 1997 and completed its final season as Tyrrell in the 1998 Formula One season. Tyrrell's legacy continues in Formula One as the Mercedes-AMG F1 team, who is Tyrrell's descendant through various sales and rebrandings via BAR, Honda, and Brawn GP.
Formula One automobile racing has its roots in the European Grand Prix championships of the 1920s and 1930s, though the foundation of the modern Formula One began in 1946 with the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) standardisation of rules, which was followed by a World Championship of Drivers in 1950.
The 1979 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 9 September 1979 at Monza. It was the thirteenth race of the 1979 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1979 International Cup for F1 Constructors.
The 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on September 25, 1982 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1982 FIA Formula One World Championship, and the second and last F1 race to be held in Caesars Palace.
The 1981 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 35th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1981 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, which were contested over a fifteen-race series that commenced on 15 March and ended on 17 October. The 1981 South African Grand Prix, as a non-championship race due to difficulties from the ongoing FISA–FOCA war, was open to Formula One entrants but was not part of the World Championship.
The 1971 Formula One season was the 25th season of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 22nd World Championship of Drivers, the 14th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and a number of non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 6 March and 3 October.
The 1969 Formula One season was the 23rd season of the FIA's Formula One motor racing. It featured the 20th World Championship of Drivers, the 12th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and four non-championship races open to Formula One cars. The World Championship was contested over eleven races between 1 March and 19 October 1969.
The 1981 United States Grand Prix West was a Formula One motor race held on March 15, 1981, at Long Beach, California. It was the opening race of the 1981 Formula One World Championship.
March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories of competition, including Formula Two, Formula Three, IndyCar and IMSA GTP sportscar racing.
Robert Kenneth Tyrrell was a British Formula Two racing driver and the founder of the Tyrrell Formula One constructor.
Rob Walker Racing Team was a privateer team in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s. Founded by Johnnie Walker heir Rob Walker (1917–2002) in 1953, the team became F1's most successful privateer in history, being the first and only entrant to win a World Championship Formula One Grand Prix without ever building their own car.
Formula One sponsorship liveries have been used since the 1968 season. Before the arrival of sponsorship liveries in 1968 the nationality of the team determined the colour of a car entered by the team, e.g. cars entered by Italian teams were rosso corsa red, cars entered by French teams were bleu de France blue, and cars entered by British teams were British racing green. Major sponsors such as BP, Shell, and Firestone had pulled out of the sport ahead of this season, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile to allow unrestricted sponsorship.
Gérard Ducarouge was a French Formula One car designer whose career in motorsport started in 1965 when he joined the French constructor and racing team Equipe Matra Sports. He designed the Matra MS80 car which, entered by the British privateer Matra International team of Ken Tyrrell, won both the World Drivers' Championship and World Constructors' Championship in the 1969 season. After leaving Matra he also designed cars for Ligier and Lotus which won several races in the 1970s and 1980s.
Équipe Ligier is a motorsport team, best known for its Formula One team that operated from 1976 to 1996. The team was founded in 1968 by former French rugby union player Guy Ligier as a sports car manufacturer.
The March 701 is a Formula One racing car model, designed by Robin Herd with Peter Wright, and built by March Engineering. The 701 was March's first Formula One design – following their one-off March 693P Formula Three prototype of 1969 – and was designed and built in only three months. The March 701 made its race debut a month after its public unveiling, at the 1970 South African Grand Prix. In total, eleven 701s were constructed, with March supplying many privateer entrants as well as their own works team. The 701's career started well, March drivers taking three wins and three pole positions from the car's first four race entries, but lack of development through the 1970 Formula One season resulted in increasingly poor results as the year wore on. The 701 was superseded by the March 711 in 1971, and made its last World Championship race appearance at the 1971 Italian Grand Prix.
The Matra Company's racing team, under the names of Matra Sports, Equipe Matra Elf and Equipe Matra Sports, was formed in 1965 and based at Champagne-sur-Seine (1965–1967), Romorantin-Lanthenay (1967–1969) and Vélizy-Villacoublay (1969–1979). In 1979 the team was taken over by Peugeot and renamed as Automobiles Talbot.
The Matra MS10 is a Formula One car entered by the Matra International team during the 1968 Formula One season. It, along with its V12-powered sibling MS11, was Matra's first purpose-built F1 car and won three races in 1968, taking Jackie Stewart to second place in the Drivers' Championship and Matra International to third place in the Constructors' Championship.