Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited, currently racing in Formula One as Williams Racing, is a British Formula One team and constructor. It was founded by Frank Williams (1942–2021) and Patrick Head. The team was formed in 1977 after Frank Williams's earlier unsuccessful F1 operation: Frank Williams Racing Cars. The team is based in Grove, Oxfordshire, on a 60-acre (24 ha) site.
Renault, a French automobile manufacturer, has been associated with Formula One as both team owner and engine manufacturer for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One with its EF1 engine. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams. Although the Renault team had won races, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault engines continued to be raced until 1986.
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.
Flavio Briatore is an Italian businessman. He started his career as a restaurant manager and insurance salesman in Italy. Briatore was convicted in Italy on several fraud charges in the 1980s, receiving two prison sentences, though the convictions were later extinguished by an amnesty. Briatore set up a number of successful Benetton franchises as a fugitive in the Virgin Islands and the United States. In 1990, he was promoted by Luciano Benetton to manage the Benetton Formula One racing team, which became Renault F1 in 2002. From 2007 to 2011, he was part-owner and chairman of London's Queens Park Rangers F.C. In September 2009, Briatore was forced to resign from the ING Renault F1 team due to his involvement in race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. After the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) conducted its own investigation, Briatore was banned indefinitely from any events sanctioned by the FIA, although this ban was later overturned by a French Tribunal de Grande Instance.
Giancarlo Fisichella, also known as Fisico, Giano or Fisi, is an Italian professional racing driver, also captain of the official Nazionale Piloti association football team. He has driven in Formula One for Minardi, Jordan, Benetton, Sauber, Renault, Force India and Ferrari. Since then he has driven for AF Corse in their Ferrari 458 GTE at various sportscar events, becoming twice a Le Mans 24 Hour class winner, and a GT class winner of the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. He was also Ferrari's F1 reserve driver for 2010.
Arrows Grand Prix International was a British Formula One team active from 1978 to 2002. It was known as Footwork from 1991 to 1996.
The 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 56th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It began on 3 March and ended on 13 October after seventeen races.
The 1998 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 52nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1998 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 8 March and ended on 1 November. Finland's Mika Häkkinen won his first Drivers' Championship, and McLaren-Mercedes won the Constructors' Championship, the first for the McLaren team since 1991.
The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecclestone also has the rights to the name GP1. The series was organized by Bruno Michel. In 2010, the GP3 Series class was launched, as a feeder class for the GP2 series. In 2017, the series was rebranded as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Mecachrome SAS is a precision engineering company based in France that operates in the aerospace, motor racing, energy and defence sectors.
Renault Sport or Renaultsport, was the motorsport, performance and special vehicles division for Renault-badged cars and is now a sub-badge of Renault cars managed by Alpine. Renault Sport was officially established in 1976 as a merger between the Alpine and Gordini competition departments. It was reorganised in 2002 and 2016. In December 2021, all Renault Sport operations were merged into an Alpine-led business unit. The Renault Sport car range under Alpine is set to be almost completely phased out by the end of 2023.
The Benetton B200 was the car with which the Benetton team competed in the 2000 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Austrian Alexander Wurz, both in their third season with the team. Japanese Hidetoshi Mitsusada was appointed the team's test driver, before being dropped in May.
The Williams FW21 was the car with which the Williams team competed in the 1999 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by German Ralf Schumacher, who had swapped from Jordan with compatriot Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and Italian Alessandro Zanardi, who had last raced in Formula One in 1994 but had since won the CART championship twice.
The Benetton B199 was the car with which the Benetton team competed in the 1999 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and Austrian Alexander Wurz, who were both in their second full seasons with the team. Frenchman Laurent Redon was the team test driver.
The Benetton B198 is a Formula One racing car with which the Benetton Formula One team competed in the 1998 Formula One season. It was driven by Giancarlo Fisichella, who had moved from Jordan, and Alexander Wurz, who was in his first full season of F1 after deputising for the unwell Gerhard Berger in 1997.
The Benetton B201 was the car with which the Benetton team competed in the 2001 Formula One World Championship; it was the last car constructed and raced by Benetton. It was driven by Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, who was in his fourth year with the team, and Briton Jenson Button, who moved from Williams after his début season in 2000. Australian Mark Webber served as test driver whilst racing in F3000.
The RS series is a family of naturally-aspirated Grand Prix racing engines, designed, developed and manufactured jointly by Mecachrome and Renault Sport for use in Formula One, and used by Arrows, BAR, Williams, Ligier, Lotus, Caterham, Benetton, Renault, and Red Bull, from 1989 until 2013. The engines came in both the original V10, and later V8 configurations, and engine displacement ranged from 2.4 L (150 cu in) to 3.5 L (210 cu in) over the years. Power figures varied; from 650 hp (480 kW) @ 12,500 rpm, to later over 900 hp (670 kW) @ 19,000 rpm. The 2.4-litre RS26 V8 engine, used in 2006, is one of the highest revving Formula One engines in history, at 20,500 rpm. Between 1998 and 2000, the RS9 engines were badged as Mecachrome, Supertec, and Playlife.
Denis Chevrier is a retired Formula One engineer who was the head of engine operations for the Renault F1 team from 2002 to 2007.
