At the end of the 2001 season, the top management of British American Tobacco, the company directly managing the British BAR team, acronym for British American Racing, pushed Craig Pollock to resign, replacing him with David Richards. The British motorsport executive, who had already served as CEO of the Benetton Formula 1 team in 1997–98 after taking over from Flavio Briatore, is also the founder and director of the British motorsport outfit Prodrive. Founded in 1984 with partner Ian Perry, Prodrive has been involved from the outset in the design and construction of racing cars, but is best known for its nearly two-decade-long collaboration with Japanese manufacturer Subaru, with whom it achieved three drivers’ titles and three constructors’ championships in the World Rally Championship thanks to the successful Subaru Impreza WRC. With his new role in Formula 1 at the BAT-run team, Richards also managed to secure continued collaboration from the British tobacco giant for his Prodrive team in the WRC.
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| BAR 004, Jacques Villeneuve Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 2002 |
The new BAR Sporting Director confirmed all the engineers already in the team: Australian Malcolm Oastler remained Technical Director, Briton Andrew Green stayed on as Chief Designer, and the Australian-British engineer of Dutch descent Willem Toet continued to head the aerodynamics and car design department. For the increasingly crucial aerodynamics department, Richards also hired young Cambridge graduate Simon Lacey, who, after a very brief stint with Williams, became Toet’s collaborator at BAR. After the end of the partnership with Reynard, the new BAR 004 was the first single-seater to come entirely out of the Brackley workshops in Northamptonshire, in England’s East Midlands, fully built by British American Racing itself. Once in office, Richards was immediately instructed by BAT’s top brass to make drastic budget cuts, given that the heavy investments made in the previous three seasons had failed to deliver the desired results. With the reduction in team personnel, the design of the new 004 could only be a simple evolution of the previous 003, a car with very limited performance. Oastler made only slight revisions to the chassis, implementing the necessary changes required by the new, stricter crash tests, while leaving the suspension unchanged, still in push-rod configuration both front and rear. The exterior design of the new 004 was practically identical to the 2001 car, with the only change being the removal of the small winglets scattered across the previous year’s bodywork, which were intended to clean airflow towards the rear.
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| BAR 004, Olivier Panis Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2002 |
The only real innovation appeared at the rear, where, as had become standard practice on all single-seaters, the engine exhausts were finally routed towards the top of the engine cover, directing hot airflow towards the rear wing. The livery of the car also mirrored that of 2001. In what promised to be yet another transitional season for the British team, the only positive news came from the engine supplier, Honda. On the day of the 004’s official launch, December 18, 2001, the Japanese giant announced its intention to continue its exclusive collaboration with BAR in the years ahead, ending its engine supply deal with fellow British team Jordan from 2003, and offering its own engine engineers to work alongside BAR’s engineers on the design of the next car. This decision coincided with the entry of another Japanese automotive giant, Toyota, into Formula 1, which was to officially present its new team the following day. The 004 was thus powered by a Honda heart: the new RA002E V10 engine, capable of producing 835 hp at 18,200 rpm, featuring a notably wide 108° V-angle between the cylinder banks instead of the classic 90° used by other manufacturers, thus allowing a significant lowering of the centre of gravity. Alongside the new engine, the 004 was fitted with a new transmission assembly featuring a novel seven-speed gearbox derived from Xtrac, too fragile, however, to withstand the power of the Honda V10, and the cause of multiple failures during the season.
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| BAR 004, Olivier Panis Montecarlo, Monaco GP 2002 |
The driver lineup from the previous season was retained: Frenchman Olivier Panis, Canadian World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, and reserve driver, Briton Anthony Davidson. During their first test outing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, the three drivers’ impressions were more than positive, despite lap times being far from the front-runners. Once the championship began, however, the 004’s lack of competitiveness meant the two drivers could only fight for midfield positions. In the first nine races, Villeneuve achieved no better than two seventh-place finishes, while Panis was forced to retire from the first seven races, only reaching the finish line for the first time at the Canadian Grand Prix. At the British Grand Prix, the tenth round of the season, BAR arrived with a dismal zero points and in last place in the standings. Thanks only to the unpredictable British weather, both drivers managed to score points at Silverstone, though this proved to be a flash in the pan. In the races that followed, retirements due to mechanical failures returned, or finishes well outside the points zone, with only two further point-scoring results: Panis’s sixth place in Italy and the same result for Villeneuve in Indianapolis.
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| BAR 004, Jacques Villeneuve Catalunya-Barcelona, Spanish GP 2002 |
Villeneuve’s poor results were at the heart of tensions between Richards and the Canadian driver, who, according to the English manager, had a salary disproportionate to his performance, around $18 million. Determined to offload the costly salary, Richards tried in every possible way to place Villeneuve in a wealthy IndyCar Series team in the US that could guarantee him the same paycheck. Unfortunately for Richards, his attempts were unsuccessful, and Villeneuve, much to his own dismay given the constant tension and the absence of support from his trusted manager Pollock, had no choice but to honour his contract and remain a BAR driver for the 2003 season. At the end of the championship, the British team finished eighth in the Constructors’ Championship with only 7 points, undeniably far below the expectations set at the start of the BAR project.
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