List of Formula One constructors

Terminology: constructors vs. teams

In Formula One racing the terms "constructor" and "entrant" have specific and differing meanings. An entrant is the person or corporate entity that registers a car and driver for a race, and is then responsible for preparing and maintaining that car during the race weekend. As a result of this preparation role and active involvement in the running of the race, the term "team" has become commonly applied to an entrant organisation.

Constructors

Under Article 6.3 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, "the constructor of an engine or chassis is the person (including any corporate or unincorporated body) which owns the intellectual rights to such engine or chassis". The title of Formula One World Champion Constructor is awarded to the car "make" that has scored the most points during the course of the season, where a car's make takes into account both engine and chassis. Hence, if a car's chassis and engine constructor are the same entity (e.g. Ferrari, Toyota, BRM etc.) then the make is simply the name of that one constructor. However, where the chassis and engine are constructed by different entities the car's make comprises both (e.g. McLaren-Mercedes, Lotus-Climax etc.), with the name of the chassis constructor being placed before that of the engine constructor. As both engine and chassis are included in the make name, chassis run with different engines (e.g. Lotus-Ford, Lotus-BRM) are counted as two separate makes and points are scored separately. Up until the 1979 season, most seasons saw only the highest-scoring driver in each race for each constructor contributing points towards the World Constructors' Championship. The World Constructors' Championship title is awarded to the constructor of the chassis of the make that scores the most points. For this reason, this list only considers chassis constructors. For more information on engines, see Formula One engines.

Teams

Since the 1981 season the FIA have required that Formula One entrants own the intellectual rights to the chassis that they enter, and so the terms "entrant" and "constructor", and hence also "team", have become synonymous.

Before this time, constructors were free to sell their chassis to as many other teams as they liked. Brabham and Lotus chassis were used extensively by other teams during the 1960s and 1970s and several quite competitive teams never built their own chassis. Rob Walker Racing Team was the most successful example, being responsible for the first victories in Formula One for both Cooper and Lotus. The concept of a "works" or "factory" team (i.e. the official team of the company producing the cars, as opposed to a customer team which buys them off the shelf) therefore applied to chassis in the same way as it does in rallying and sports car racing.

There have been some recent exceptions where a specialist company, not itself entered in the championship, has been commissioned to design and build a chassis for a team; Lola built cars for Larrousse and Scuderia Italia in the late 1980s and early 1990s, for example. Larousse had their points from the 1990 season erased after the FIA decided that they had falsely nominated themselves and not Lola as the chassis constructor. In 1978, the new Arrows team which had been established by former Shadow personnel was sued by Shadow on the grounds that the Arrows FA/1 car was a copy of Shadow's DN9 – a view upheld by the UK High Court, which placed a ban on Arrows racing the FA/1.

There have been more recent cases with Ligier (1995), Sauber (2004), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2006 & 2007) and Super Aguri (2007 & 2008) where teams have been accused of using a chassis produced by another constructor (respectively Benetton, Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Honda). No action was taken against any of these teams, the sporting authorities being satisfied in each case that the team owned the intellectual property to the chassis they raced.

From the middle of the 1973 season until the end of the 2013 season, each team had permanent racing numbers from race to race throughout the season. (Since 2014, racing numbers have been assigned to drivers instead of teams). Since the 1985 season the FIA have required that teams enter no more than two cars for a race.

Team's nationality

Unlike drivers who are required to compete in the FIA Formula One World Championship under the nationality of their passport, the FIA's International Sporting Code states that teams competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship shall compete under the nationality of their parent National Automobile Club that issued their FIA racing licence. On the basis of this regulation, despite the fact that most current teams are based in the UK, this country is officially represented in Formula One only by teams holding a racing licence issued by the British National Sporting Authority. Teams take the nationality of their parent National Automobile Club that issued their licence for the period of validity of that licence and the change of the nationality is allowed. Several teams changed their nationality during their competition in Formula One (e.g. Shadow in 1976 from American to British, Benetton in 1996 from British to Italian, Renault in 2011 from French to British). Benetton is the only team to have achieved victories while racing under two different nationalities.

Relating to the team's nationality some mistakes occurred on official entry lists issued by or podium ceremonies organized by the FIA or race organisers, e.g. Wolf holding the Canadian nationality identified as the British by official entry lists, or the British national anthem played on the podium in honour of the winning Jordan and Red Bull holding the Irish and Austrian nationality respectively.

2017 constructors' statistics

Key: Races Entered = Number of individual races entered; Races Started = Number of individual races started; Drivers = Number of drivers; Total Entries = Total number of race entries; Wins = Number of races won; Points = Number of World Constructors' Championship points scored; Poles = Number of pole positions; FL = Number of fastest laps; Podiums = Number of podium finishes; WCC = World Constructors Championships won; WDC = World Drivers' Championships won.

Former constructors' statistics

Key: Races Entered = Number of individual races entered; Races Started = Number of individual races started; Drivers = Number of drivers; Total Entries = Total number of race entries; Wins = Number of races won; Points = Number of Constructors' Championship points scored; Poles = Number of pole positions; FL = Number of fastest laps; Podiums. = Number of podium finishes; WCC = Constructors Championships won; WDC = Drivers' Championships won.

Indianapolis 500 only

Constructors whose only World Championship participation was in the Indianapolis 500 from 1950 to 1960. All were American-based.

Privateer teams

The following are teams which never built their own chassis, and thus were not "constructors":