The BAR 004 was the car with which the

British American Racing British American Racing (BAR) was a Formula One constructor that competed in the sport from 1999 to 2005. BAR began by acquiring Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell, and used Supertec engines for their first year. Subsequently, they formed a partnership wit ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

team competed in the

2002 Formula One season The 2002 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 56th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 2002 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 2002 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested ...

Overview

The BAR 004 was launched on 18 December, 2001 at the teams headquarters in

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...

. The day after brand new team, Toyota. The launch event also confirmed new team boss David Richards taking over from

Craig Pollock Craig Pollock (born February 20, 1956) is a British businessman. He was the manager of 1997 World Champion Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve throughout his top-level career. Pollock was the founder of the British American Racing Formula One ...

, and his

Prodrive Prodrive is an England, English motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire. History Prodrive was founded in 1984 by Ian Parry and David Richards (motorsport executive), David Richards. Prodrive sold its 51% s ...

business taking on management of the team. The 004 was the first car designed solely in house by British American Racing technical director Malcolm Oastler following the end of a three year design agreement with

Reynard Reynard the Fox is a list of literary cycles, literary cycle of medieval allegorical Folklore of the Low Countries, Dutch, English folklore, English, French folklore, French and German folklore, German fables. The first extant versions of the cy ...

. Before the season began, engine supplier

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

confirmed a new contract to continue supplying engines to British American Racing until 2004. This announcement at the cars launch also demonstrated the new Honda RA002E engine. At the first test in Barcelona in January, both Villeneuve and Panis tested the car alongside reserve driver

Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One between and . In endurance racing, Davidson won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2014 with Toyota. Born in Hem ...

. All were outside the top 10 in their respective times. By the time testing reached

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

later in the month, Panis and Villeneuve finished 8th and 9th fastest respectively. However the season itself was a dismal one. By the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor racing event organised in the United Kingdom by Motorsport UK. First held by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1926 British Grand Prix, 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 ...

, they were rock bottom as the only team not to have scored any points. In that race, the team took full advantage of the mixed wet-dry conditions to score a double points finish, with Villeneuve in 4th and Panis in 5th. The team would score just a further two points that season with Panis in 6th in Monza and Villeneuve in 6th at Indianapolis. The team chalked up 17 retirements, including 5 races where both cars failed to finish. Olivier Panis did not complete a Grand Prix until the 8th round of the season in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Whilst some retirements were due to accidents, such as for Panis in Australia and Monte-Carlo, primarily the retirements were due to unreliability. In season testing at Valencia was completed by Panis and Davidson in an attempt to resolve some of the issues. The BAR 004 would see the team finish 8th in the constructors championship with 7 points.

Drivers

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve (; born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian former racing driver, who competed in IndyCar from 1994 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1994 to 1995 PPG Indy Car World Series, 1995, and Formula One from to . Villeneuve won t ...

and

Olivier Panis Olivier Jean Denis Marie Panis (; born 2 September 1966) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix with Équipe Ligier, Ligier. Panis competed in Formula One for Équipe Ligier, ...

were the race team drivers for the whole season. Villeneuve was completing his fourth season with the team, meanwhile Panis his second. The team had four reserve drivers who were

Darren Manning Darren Manning (born 30 April 1975) is a British motor racing driver who has raced in the IRL IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Career history Early career Manning was born in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire ...

, Patrick Lemarie and

Ryo Fukuda Ryo may refer to: * Ryō, a gold currency unit in pre-Meiji Japan Shakkanhō system * Ryō (actress) (born 1973), Japanese model, actress, and singer * Ryō (given name), a unisex Japanese given name * Ryo, Georgia, an unincorporated community in G ...

. Davidson was allowed to be temporarily released of duties for the team so he could race for

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal following ...

whilst

Alex Yoong Alexander Charles Yoong Loong (; born 20 July 1976) is a Malaysian racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One at 18 Formula One Grands Prix, Grands Prix from to . Yoong remains the only Malaysian driver to ...

took a two race break.

Livery

The livery was similar to the previous season with subtle changes. The team retained sponsors including

Tiscali Tessellis S.p.A. (formerly Tiscali S.p.A.) is an Italian telecommunications company founded in 1998 and based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that provides Internet and telecommunications services in Italy, and, previously had operations in other Eur ...

and Sonax. BAR used the

Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Name Lucky Strike was introduced as a brand of plug tobacco (chew ...

logos, except at the British, French and United States Grand Prix.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position, results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{F1 cars 2002 BAR Formula One cars 2002 Formula One season cars