Motorsport fans of a certain age will need no reminder about how both Lola and Yamaha endured generally torrid Formula 1 campaigns 27 years ago, the last for each in the category. The former botched its attempt to make the grade after both of its drivers comprehensively failed to qualify for the opening round of the 1997 season before the squad vanished from the grid completely by the next round as money behind the scenes failed to materialise.
Yamaha fared little better in its role supplying engines to Arrows, save for 1996 champion Damon Hill’s heroics and near-victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Brit agonisingly losing the lead on the final lap due to a mechanical issue. That 1997 season also marked the Japanese manufacturer’s last in car racing, while Lola would seek fortune elsewhere, which it achieved in spades, before ultimately dwindling into nothing by the end of 2012 having fallen into administration.
Fast-forward to the present day and both announced a return to world championship single-seater racing as a powertrain supplier in the Formula E Championship in a move that has big ramifications for the series. Lola joins having been resurrected by British businessman and IMSA racer, Till Bechtolsheimer, who bought the name and remaining assets in 2022. He has looked to return the fabled brand to motorsport but with a new focus on sustainability, primarily electric and hydrogen power.
Having first been created in 1958 and with more than 500 wins under its belt across a plethora of series and events including the Indianapolis 500, Le Mans, Champ Car and more, the British brand is arguably an institution of motorsport that is sure to attract an old and new following.
“Coming back into racing we needed to differentiate ourselves,” Mark Preston, who heads up the Formula E project, tells Autosport. “We’ve obviously been away too long to just continue what we did previously with aerodynamics and chassis etc. We’ll still do that kind of thing but looking at the powertrains and what’s changed over the years, pretty much all series now have an element, at least at the high level, of electrification going on.”
Preston is a stalwart of motorsport having been involved for decades at the highest level with Arrows, McLaren and Super Aguri in F1. While in Formula E, he was team principal at Techeetah as the squad took three drivers’ titles on the bounce with Jean-Eric Vergne (twice) and Antonio Felix da Costa between 2017-2020.
Source: Autosport