[Atticus]

Below is a list of all the constructors (plus a few major customer teams) to have made it to at least one actual F1 race, ordered by the year they quit F1.

Bold denotes constructors usually considered important, italic denotes lesser known, but fairly long-lasting teams, who usually helping to fill up the grid. Two asterisks denotes teams which have had a very very long history before folding or abandoning their F1 programme.

2010 Virgin/Marussia 2014?
2010 Lotus/Caterham 2014?
2010 HRT 2012
2002 Toyota 2009
2006 Super Aguri 2008
**1978 Footwork/Arrows 2002
**1976 Ligier/Prost 2001
1997 Lola 1997
1995 Forti 1996
1994 Pacific 1995
1994 Simtek 1995
1987 Larrousse 1994
**1958 Lotus 1994
1988 BMS Scuderia Italia 1993
1987 Coloni/Andrea Moda 1992
1980 Osella/Fondmetal 1992
1987 March/Leyton House/March 1992
**1962 Brabham 1992
1991 Lamborghini Modena 1991
1986 AGS 1991
1990 Life 1990
1989 Onyx 1990
1988 EuroBrun 1990
1988 Rial 1989
1985 Zakspeed 1989
1983 Spirit 1985
1979 Alfa Romeo 1985
1977 Renault 1985
1976 RAM 1985
1974 Penske/ATS 1984
1976 Theodore 1983
1975 Fittipaldi 1982
1973 Ensign 1982
1973 Shadow 1980
1979 Kauhsen 1979
1978 Rebaque 1979
1977 Merzario 1979
1969 Williams/Wolf 1979
1978 Martini 1978
1974 Hesketh 1978
1970 Surtees 1978
1977 McGuire 1977
1976 Kojima 1977
1976 Boro 1977
1973 LEC 1977
1970 March 1977
**1951 BRM 1977
1974 Maki 1976
1974 Parnelli 1976
1974 Lyncar 1975
1973 Hill 1975
1974 Amon 1974
1974 Token 1974
1974 Trojan 1974
1972 Tecno 1973
1972 Connew 1972
1972 Eifelland 1972
1967 Matra 1972
1970 Bellasi 1971
1970 Team Gunston 1970
**1953 Rob Walker Racing 1970
1969 Jack Holme 1969
**1950 Cooper 1969
1966 AAR 1968
1962 LDS 1968
1966 Shannon 1966
1963 Otello Nucci 1965
1963 ATS 1965
1964 Derrington-Francis 1964
1963 Scirocco 1964
1958 BPR 1964
1957 Ecurie Maarsbergen 1964
1963 Stebro 1963
1961 De Tomaso 1963
1957 Porsche 1962
1956 Emeryson 1962
1955 Ecurie Nationale Belge 1962
1954 Gilby 1962
1959 JBW 1961
1960 Scarab 1960
1959 Aston Martin 1960
1954 Vanwall 1960
1959 Fry 1959
1952 Connaught 1959
1951 OSCA 1959
1950 Maserati 1957
1956 Bugatti 1956
1950 Gordini 1956
1955 Volpini 1955
1954 Mercedes 1955
1954 Lancia 1955
1954 Klenk 1954
1951 HWM 1954
1953 EMW 1953
1952 AFM 1953
1952 Cisitalia 1952
1952 Aston Butterworth 1952
1952 Alta 1952
1952 Frazer-Nash 1952
1950 ERA 1952
1950 Alfa Romeo 1951
1950 Milano 1950
1950 Talbot 1950

In short, there is a pattern that I think shows a bit of a correlation between the costs of racing, which I think is strongly related to technological progress, and the number of constructors.

There was an abundant of new entries in the 1970s and although most of them folded very quickly, those who lasted helped establish a significant portion of the field right up until the spiralling costs of running ever more technologically advanced (and fuel efficient) turbos squeezed them out in the mid-1980s. The new, cheaper formula scheduled to begin in 1988/1989 once again triggered a surge of new teams, and again, the majority folded quickly, but a few of made it past the first few years and a few of them are on nowaday’s grid.

A second point could be the fact that the ‘supply’ of new teams decreased dramatically in the last nearly 20 years – some of the competitors will always make mistakes in financing decisions, luring sponsorship, allocating resources, in business in general, and so the ‘exit rate’ of teams is relatively more consistent (even that decreased a bit), the underlying problem might well be the substantially increased entry barriers.

One thing the current era-managers do well is to preserve teams with a lot of innate, historical know-how after they had been abandoned by manufacturers. F1 always struggled with manufactuer exits (just as other serieses, which may be one of the main reason serieses cease to exist), take the Alfa Romeo and Talbot exits in 1950-51 – the championship regulations switched to cheaper F2 regs for two seasons. Take the exit of Mercedes, Lancia and Maserati in 1955-57 – it was only after F1 introduced a different formula in 1961 that entrants began to flood in. Take the exit of Alfa Romeo and Renault (and indirectly, BMW) in 1985 – again, a new set of regs were required soon. When Toyota and BMW and Renault left in 2010, people acted well to save two of the three entries.

These are just the most basic and straightforward conclusions from the list, feel free to add any observations.

Note – I do not suggest per se that new technologies, which increase costs, are harmful. Their discoveries and developments always made for quicker, more reliable, safer or more efficient road cars and travels. They have a lot of advantages, which I’m aware of and like. I’ve simply tried to illustrate how some of their drawbacks might have affected the health of F1 competition and the health of serieses in general.

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