The F1 team-owner boss

Ever since Formula One came to be dominated by small, specialist teams in the late 1950s, the team owner has come to be the traditional boss. He is the man who has usually founded the team, risked his own finances, and attracted the financial partners who support the team. He is also the one who continues to make the long term decisions. But the team owner may be chairman of the board and so have to answer to board members on the consequences of these decisions.
The current crop of team-owner bosses include men who have different backgrounds and arrived at their current positions via different routes:

Team Owner Team
Frank Williams Williams F1
Ron Dennis McLaren-Mercedes
Peter Sauber Team Sauber
Eddie Jordan Jordan Grand Prix
Paul Stoddard Minardi F1

Williams, Sauber and Jordan all began as race drivers, although none of them made it to Formula One. They quickly transferred their expertise to setting up teams in junior categories of racing and, through hard graft, sharp brains, and sometimes a little luck, made their way into Formula One. Dennis progressed from being a mechanic to a team owner through a similar combination of qualities. He took over the McLaren F1 operation in the early 1980s through a sponsor-initiated merger with his Formula Two team. Stoddard made his fortune in the airline business and, as a man with a passion for Formula One, first became involved in it as a sponsor. Eventually he bought an existing team and became, de facto, its boss.

Although Williams is the majority shareholder in his team, his Technical Director Patrick Head is a co-owner. They jointly run the team between them, but Williams has the final say. Jordan retains the controlling stake in his team, but it is part-owned by a bank. Dennis remains the ultimate boss at McLaren, though the team’s technical partner DaimlerChrysler has a 40 per cent share. Only Sauber and Stoddard are fully independent, though their teams are minnows compared to the likes of McLaren and Williams.