Specialist teams, auto manufacturers and others: The folks who make the cars

Specialist teams such as McLaren and Williams build the cars and run the whole enterprise. They have the premises, facilities, and staff that design and build the machines. Major car manufacturers such as Honda, BMW, and Mercedes are also involved in Formula One – but as engine suppliers. The manufacturers usually go into partnership with a team so that, for example, Honda supplies engines to BAR, while BMW motors power the Williams cars. There are exceptions, though. Ferrari has always produced its own engines, as well as chassis, and Ferrari’s recent success has some people thinking that there may be something in this. Upon its entry into Formula One in 2002, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota decided to go the Ferrari route, establishing a manufacturing base in Cologne, Germany, that designs and builds both chassis and engines.
Ferrari and Toyota also build their own transmissions. Most of the others buy components from a specialist racing gearbox manufacturer, though often to their own design.
Increasingly, no set rule governs who makes what. The car manufacturer Renault, for example, bought the former specialist team Benetton outright and uses its British base and staff to design and build the chassis, but the engines are still produced in France. Jaguar Racing is owned by Ford, with engines supplied by Cosworth – another Ford offshoot. DaimlerChrysler (manufacturers of Mercedes-Benz) has an equity stake in the McLaren team and in the specialist engine manufacturer Ilmor which builds the Formula One engines bearing the Mercedes badge that are fitted into the McLarens. Regardless of who makes the stuff, a Formula One car represents a stunning feat of technology, engineering and design.