A former rally co-driver for Ari Vatanen with whom he won the World Rally Championship title in 1981, Richards formed Prodrive in 1984 which has since won six World Rally titles with Subaru; five British Touring Car Championships with BMW, Alfa Romeo and Ford; and a class win at Le Mans with Ferrari.
Richards managed Benetton for most of 1998 but was booted out for family man Rocco Benetton before getting a handle on the outfit. He returned to F1 with BAR in 2002 and, having ditched Jacques Villeneuve for Jenson Button, led the team to second in the 2004 Constructors’ Championship. He left immediately afterwards, claiming his objective of readying the team for a takeover by Honda was complete. Prodrive are rumoured to be planning an F1 effort of their own.