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The MotoGP model that proves F1 B-teams' worth

F1's history with customer cars has been contradictory throughout the decades, and the development of B-teams has led to scorn inside and outside F1. But a glance at MotoGP shows how they can be key to F1's future

The jury was always out on customer cars in Formula 1. A huge part of the category's formative years, in which private entrants frequently bought up machinery from the likes of Lotus and March, 21st-century variants were looked upon with greater disdain.

Some weren't particularly happy that the Super Aguri team could get away with buying up previous-spec Hondas, or that Toro Rosso could use the same car as sister squad Red Bull. The resulting opposition nipped a potential Prodrive entry in the bud, having agreed a deal with McLaren to buy its cars for 2008.

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Author Jake Boxall-Legge

Jake studied engineering at university, as his original ambition was to design racing cars. He was bad at that, and thus decided to write about them instead with an equally limited skillset. The above article is a demonstration of that. In his spare time, Jake enjoys people, places, and things.